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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:06:55 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:06:55 -0700 |
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diff --git a/36962-h/36962-h.htm b/36962-h/36962-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b26dacf --- /dev/null +++ b/36962-h/36962-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,24944 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of My Attainment of the Pole, by Dr. Frederick A. Cook. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .5em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 2em; + margin-bottom: .5em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + margin-top: 2.5em; + margin-bottom: 1.5em; + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{font-size: 0.95em; text-indent: -2em; margin-left: 2em; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + .sblockquot{font-size: 0.95em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;} + .noin {text-indent: 0em;} + .negin {text-indent: -2em; font-variant: small-caps; text-align: left;} + .negin1 {text-indent: -2em; text-align: left;} + + .tentry {border-left: solid 1px; border-right: solid 1px; border-bottom: solid 1px;} + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px; width: 600px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; + padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em;} + + .center {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;} + .ralign {text-align: right; text-indent: 0em; margin-right: 1em;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + .overline {text-decoration: overline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 82%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's My Attainment of the Pole, by Frederick A. Cook + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: My Attainment of the Pole + +Author: Frederick A. Cook + +Release Date: August 3, 2011 [EBook #36962] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY ATTAINMENT OF THE POLE *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 501px;"> +<img src="images/frontcover.jpg" width="501" height="717" alt="Front Cover" title="" /> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 484px;"> +<a name="Frontispiece" id="Frontispiece"></a> +<img src="images/illo_002.jpg" width="484" height="800" alt="Frederick A. Cook" title="" /> +</div> +<p> </p> + + + +<h4><i>Press Edition</i></h4> + +<h1>MY ATTAINMENT<br /> +OF THE POLE</h1> + +<p class="center"><i>Being the Record of the Expedition<br /> +that First Reached the Boreal Center,<br /> +1907-1909. With the Final Summary<br /> +of the Polar Controversy</i></p> + +<h3><i>By</i><br /> + +DR. FREDERICK A. COOK</h3> + +<h5>THIRD PRINTING, 60TH THOUSAND</h5> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 195px;"> +<img src="images/illo_003.png" width="195" height="195" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h4>NEW YORK AND LONDON<br /> +MITCHELL KENNERLEY<br /> + +MCMXIII</h4> + +<p class="center">By Special arrangements this edition is marketed by<br /> +The Polar Publishing Co., 601 Steinway Hall, Chicago</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright 1913<br /> +by<br /> +Dr. Frederick A. Cook</span></p> +<p> </p> + + +<div class="bbox"> +<h4><span class="u"><i>OTHER BOOKS BY DR. COOK</i></span></h4> + + +<p><b>Through the First Antarctic Night</b></p> + +<p> A Narrative of the Belgian South Polar Expedition.</p> + + +<p><b>To the Top of the Continent</b></p> + +<p> Exploration in Sub-Arctic Alaska—The First Ascent of Mt. McKinley</p> + + +<p><b>My Attainment of the Pole</b></p> + +<p> Edition de Luxe</p> + +<p> Each of above series will be sent post paid for $5.00. All to one +address for $14.00.</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" summary=""> +<tr><td valign='top'>Address:</td><td align='center'>THE POLAR PUBLISHING CO.<br />601 Steinway Hall, Chicago</td></tr> +</table></div> +</div> + + +<p> </p> +<h2><i>To the Pathfinders</i></h2> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'> +To the Indian who invented pemmican and snowshoes;<br /> +To the Eskimo who gave the art of sled traveling;<br /> +To this twin family of wild folk who have no flag<br /> +Goes the first credit.<br /> +To the forgotten trail makers whose book of experience has been a guide;<br /> +To the fallen victors whose bleached bones mark steps in the ascent of the ladder of latitudes;<br /> +To these, the pathfinders—past, present and future—I inscribe the first page.<br /> +In the ultimate success there is glory enough<br /> +To go to the graves of the dead and to the heads of the living. +</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[A]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE PRESENT STATUS OF THE POLAR CONTROVERSY</h2> + +<h4>DR. COOK IS VINDICATED. HIS DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH POLE<br /> +IS ENDORSED BY THE EXPLORERS OF ALL THE WORLD.</h4> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<p>In placing Dr. Cook on the Chautauqua platform as a lecturer, we have +been compelled to study the statements issued for and against the rival polar +claims with special reference to the facts bearing upon the present status of the +Polar Controversy.</p> + +<p>Though the question has been argued during four years, we find that it is +almost the unanimous opinion of arctic explorers today, that Dr. Cook reached +the North Pole on April 21, 1909.</p> + +<p>With officer Peary's first announcement he chose to force a press campaign +to deny Dr. Cook's success and to proclaim himself as the sole Polar Victor. +Peary aimed to be retired as a Rear-Admiral on a pension of $6,000 per year. +This ambition was granted; but the American Congress rejected his claim for +priority by eliminating from the pension bill the words "Discovery of the Pole." +The European geographical societies, forced under diplomatic pressure to honor +Peary, have also refused him the title of "Discoverer." By a final verdict of the +American government and of the highest European authorities, Peary is therefore +denied the assumption of being the discoverer of the Pole, though his claim +as a re-discoverer is allowed. The evasive inscriptions on the Peary medals +prove this statement.</p> + +<p>Following the acute excitement of the first announcement, it seemed to +be desirable to bring the question to a focus by submitting to some authoritative +body for decision. Such an institution, however, did not exist. Previously, +explorers had been rated by the slow process of historic digestion and assimilation +of the facts offered, but it was thought that an academic examination would +meet the demands. Officer Peary first submitted his case to a commission appointed +by the National Geographical Society of Washington, D. C. This jury +promptly said that in their "opinion" Peary reached the Pole on April 6, 1909; +but a year later in congress the same men unwillingly admitted that in the Peary +proofs there was no positive proof.</p> + +<p>Dr. Cook's data was sent to a commission appointed by the University +of Copenhagen. The Danes reported that the material presented was incomplete +and did not constitute positive proof. This verdict, however, did not carry +the interpretation that the Pole had not been reached. The Danes have never +said, as they have been quoted by the press, that Dr. Cook did not reach the +Pole; quite to the contrary, the University of Copenhagen conferred the degree +of Ph. D. and the Royal Danish Geographical Society gave a gold medal, both +in recognition of the merits of the Polar effort.</p> + +<p>This early examination was based mostly upon the nautical calculations +for position, and both verdicts when analyzed gave the version that in such +observations there was no positive proof. The Washington jury ventured an +opinion. The Danes refused to give an opinion, but showed their belief in Dr. +Cook's success by conferring honorary degrees.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[B]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is the unfair interpretation of the respective verdicts by the newspapers +which has precipitated the turbulent air of distrust which previously rested over +the entire Polar achievement. All this, however, has now been cleared by the +final word of fifty of the foremost Polar explorers and scientific experts.</p> + +<p>In so far as they were able to judge from all the data presented in the +final books of both claimants the following experts have given it as their opinion +that Dr. Cook reached the Pole, and that officer Peary's similar report coming +later is supplementary proof of the first victory:</p> + +<p>General A. W. Greely, U. S. A., commander of the Lady Franklin Bay +Expedition, who spent four years in the region under discussion.</p> + +<p>Rear Admiral W. S. Schley, U. S. N., commander of the Greely Relief +Expedition.</p> + +<p>Capt. Otto Sverdrup, discoverer of the land over which Dr. Cook's route +was forced.</p> + +<p>Capt. J. E. Bernier, commanding the Canadian Arctic Expeditions.</p> + +<p>Prof. G. Frederick Wright, author of the "Ice Age of North America."</p> + +<p>Capt. E. B. Baldwin, commanding the Baldwin-Ziegler Expedition.</p> + +<p>Prof. W. H. Brewer for 16 years president of the Arctic Club of America.</p> + +<p>Prof. Julius Payer of the Weyprecht-Payer Expedition.</p> + +<p>Prof. L. L. Dyche, member of various Peary and Cook Expeditions.</p> + +<p>Mr. Maurice Connell, Greely Expedition, and U. S. Weather Bureau.</p> + +<p>Capt. O. C. Hamlet, U. S. A. Arctic Revenue Service.</p> + +<p>Capt. E. A. Haven, Baldwin-Ziegler Expedition.</p> + +<p>Mr. Andrew J. Stone, Explorer of North Coast of America.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dillon Wallace, Labrador Explorer.</p> + +<p>Mr. Edwin Swift Balch, author of "The North Pole and Bradley Land."</p> + +<p>Captains Johan Menander, B. S. Osbon and Thomas F. Hall.</p> + +<p>Messrs. Henry Biederbeck, Frederick B. Wright, F. F. Taylor, Ralph H. +Cairns, Theodore Lerner, M. Van Ryssellberghe, J. Knowles Hare, Chas. E. +Rilliet, Homer Rogers, R. C. Bates, E. C. Rost, L. C. Bement, Clarence Wychoff, +Alfred Church, Archibald Dickinson, Robert Stein, J. S. Warmbath, Geo. +B. Butland, Ralph Shainwald, Henry Johnson, S. J. Entrikin, Clark Brown, +W. F. Armbruster, John R. Bradley, Harry Whitney and Rudolph Franke.</p> + +<p>Drs. T. F. Dedrick, Middleton Smith, J. G. Knowlton, H. J. Egbert, W. H. +Axtell, A. H. Cordier and Henry Schwartz.</p> + +<p>Judge Jules Leclercq, and Prof. Georges Lecointe, Secretary of the International +Bureau of Polar Research.</p> + +<p>Thus endorsed by practically all Polar Explorers, Dr. Cook's attainment +of the Pole and his earlier work of discovery and exploration is farther established +by the following honorary pledges of recognition. (These are now in the possession +of Dr. Cook, the press reports to the contrary being untrue).</p> + +<p>By the King of Belgium, decorated as Knight of the Order of Leopold.</p> + +<p>By the University of Copenhagen in conferring the degree of Ph. D.</p> + +<p>By the Royal Danish Geographical Society, presentation of a gold medal.</p> + +<p>By the Arctic Club of America, presentation of a gold medal.</p> + +<p>By the Royal Geographical Society of Belgium, presentation of a gold medal.</p> + +<p>By the Municipality of the City of Brussels, presentation of a gold medal.</p> + +<p>By the Municipality of the City of New York, with the ceremony of presenting +the keys and offering the freedom of the city.</p> + +<p>Without denying officer Peary's success, we note that his case rests upon +the opinion of three of his official associates in Washington. Three men acting +for a society financially interested—three men who have never seen a piece of +Polar ice—have given it as their "opinion" that Mr. Peary (a year later than +Dr. Cook) reached the Pole. By many this was accepted as a final verdict of +experts for Peary. But are such men dependable experts?</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[C]</a></span></p> + +<p>Dr. Cook now offers in substantiation of his work the support and the +final verdict of fifty of the foremost explorers and scientific experts. Each in +his own way has during the past four years examined the polar problem and +pronounced in favor of Dr. Cook.</p> + +<p>He is therefore vindicated of the propaganda of insinuation and distrust +which his enemies forced, and his success in reaching the Pole is conceded and +endorsed by his own peers.</p> + +<p>In his book, "My Attainment of the Pole," Dr. Cook offers with thrilling +vividness a most remarkable series of adventures in the enraptured wilderness +at the top of the globe. And in his lectures he takes his audience step by step +over the haunts of northernmost man and beyond to the sparkling sea of death at +the pole. Above all he leaves in the hearts of his listeners the thrills of a fresh +vigor and a new inspiration, which opens the way for other worlds to conquer. +By his books and by his lectures, Dr. Cook seeks justice at the bar of public +opinion, and three million people have applauded his effort on the platform. +One hundred thousand people will read his book during the coming year. We +are inclined to agree with Capt. E. B. Baldwin and other Arctic explorers who say—"Putting +aside the academic and idle argument of pin-point accuracy, the +North Pole has been honestly reached by Dr. Cook, three hundred and fifty days +before any one else claimed to have been there."</p> + +<p>May 22, 1913.</p> +<p style='text-align: right'> +THE CHAUTAUQUA MANAGERS' ASSOCIATION, <br /> +ORCHESTRA BUILDING, CHICAGO. </p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="" width="95%"> +<tr><td align='left'>Chas. W. Ferguson, Pres.</td><td align='right'>A. L. Flude, Sec'y.</td></tr> +</table></div> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_008.jpg" width="640" height="414" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>This narrative has been prepared as a general outline +of my conquest of the North Pole. In it the scientific +data, the observations, every phase of the pioneer +work with its drain of human energy has been presented +in its proper relation to a strange cycle of events. The +camera has been used whenever possible to illustrate +the progress of the expedition as well as the wonders +and mysteries of the Arctic wilds. Herein, with due +after-thought and the better perspective afforded by +time, the rough field notes, the disconnected daily tabulations +and the records of instrumental observations, +every fact, every optical and mental impression, has +been re-examined and re-arranged to make a concise +record of successive stages of progress to the boreal +center. If I have thus worked out an understandable +panorama of our environment, then the mission of this +book has served its purpose.</p> + +<p>Much has been said about absolute geographic +proof of an explorer's work. History demonstrates that +the book which gives the final authoritative narrative is +the test of an explorer's claims. By it every traveler +has been measured. From the time of the discovery of +America to the piercing of darkest Africa and the open<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span>ing +of Thibet, men who have sought the truth of the +claims of discovery have sought, not abstract figures, +but the continuity of the narrative in the pages of the +traveler's final book. In such a narrative, after due +digestion and assimilation, there is to be found either +the proof or the disproof of the claims of a discoverer.</p> + +<p>In such narratives as the one herewith presented, +subsequent travelers and other experts, with no other +interests to serve except those of fair play, have critically +examined the material. With the lapse of time +accordingly, when partisanship feelings have been +merged in calm and conscientious judgment, history has +always finally pronounced a fair and equitable verdict.</p> + +<p>In a similar way my claim of being first to reach +the North Pole will rest upon the data presented between +the covers of this book.</p> + +<p>In working out the destiny of this Expedition, and +this book which records its doings, I have to acknowledge +my gratitude for the assistance of many people. +First among those to whom I am deeply indebted is +John R. Bradley. By his liberal hand this Expedition +was given life, and by his loyal support and helpfulness +I was enabled to get to my base of operations at Annoatok. +By his liberal donations of food we were enabled to +live comfortably during the first year. To John R. +Bradley, therefore, belong the first fruits of the Polar +conquest.</p> + +<p>A tribute of praise must be placed on record for +Rudolph Francke. After the yacht returned, he was +my sole civilized helper and companion. The faithful +manner in which he performed the difficult duties assigned +to him, and his unruffled cheerfulness during the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span> +trying weeks of the long night, reflect a large measure +of credit.</p> + +<p>The band of little people of the Farthest North +furnished without pay the vital force and the primitive +ingenuity without which the quest of the Pole would be +a hopeless task. These boreal pigmies with golden +skins, with muscles of steel, and hearts as finely human +as those of the highest order of man, performed a task +that cannot be too highly commended. The two boys, +Ah-we-lah and E-tuk-i-shook, deserve a place on the tablet +of fame. They followed me with a perseverance +which demonstrates one of the finest qualities of savage +life. They shared with me the long run of hardship; +they endured without complaint the unsatisfied hunger, +the unquenched thirst, and the maddening isolation, with +no thought of reward except that which comes from an +unselfish desire to follow one whom they chose to regard +as a friend. If a noble deed was ever accomplished, +these boys did it, and history should record their heroic +effort with indelible ink.</p> + +<p>At the request of Mrs. Cook, the Canadian Government +sent its ship, the "Arctic," under Captain Bernier, +with supplementary supplies for me, to Etah. +These were left under the charge of Mr. Harry Whitney. +The return to civilization was made in comfort, +by the splendid manner in which this difficult problem +was carried out. To each and all in this combination I +am deeply indebted.</p> + +<p>With sweet memories of the warm hospitality of +Danes in Greenland, I here subscribe my never-to-be-forgotten +appreciation. I am also indebted to the +Royal Greenland Trading Company and to the United<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span> +S. S. Company for many favors; and, above all, am I +grateful to the Danes as a nation, for the whole-souled +demonstrations of friendship and appreciation at +Copenhagen.</p> + +<p>In the making of this book, I was relieved of much +routine editorial work by Mr. T. Everett Harry, associate +editor of Hampton's Magazine, who rearranged +much of my material, and by whose handling of certain +purely adventure matter a book of better literary +workmanship has been made.</p> + +<p>I am closing the pages of this book with a good deal +of regret, for, in the effort to make the price of this +volume so low that it can go into every home, the need +for brevity has dictated the number of pages. My last +word to all—to friends and enemies—is, if you must +pass judgment, study the problem carefully. You are +as capable of forming a correct judgment as the self-appointed +experts. One of Peary's captains has said +"that he knew, but never would admit, that Peary +did not reach the Pole." Rear Admiral Chester +has said the same about me, but he "admits" it in big, +flaming type. With due respect to these men, in justice +to the cause, I am bound to say that these, and others of +their kind, who necessarily have a blinding bias, are not +better able to judge than the average American citizen.</p> + +<p>If you have read this book, then read Mr. Peary's +"North Pole." Put the two books side by side. When +making comparisons, remember that my attainment of +the Pole was one year earlier than Mr. Peary's claim; +that my narrative was written and printed months before +that of Mr. Peary; that the Peary narrative is such +that Rear Admiral Schley has said—"After reading<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span> +the published accounts daily and critically of both +claimants, I was forced to the conclusion from their +striking similarity that each of you was the eye-witness +of the other's success. Without collusion, it would +have been impossible to have written accounts so +similar."</p> + +<p>This opinion, coming as it does from one of the +highest Arctic and Naval authorities, is endorsed by +practically all Arctic explorers. Captain E. B. Baldwin +goes even further, and proves my claim from the +pages of Peary's own book. Governor Brown of +Georgia, after a critical examination of the two reports, +says, "If it is true, as Peary would like us to believe, +that Cook has given us a gold brick, then Peary has +offered a paste diamond."</p> + +<p>Since my account was written and printed first, +the striking analogy apparent in the Peary pages either +proves my position at the Pole or it convicts Peary of +using my data to fill out and impart verisimilitude to +his own story of a second victory.</p> + +<p>Much against my will I find myself compelled to +uncover the dark pages of the selfish unfairness of rival +interests. In doing so my aim is not to throw doubt and +distrust on Mr. Peary's success, but to show his incentive +and his methods in attempting to leave the sting of discredit +upon me. I would prefer to close my eye to a +long series of wrong doings as I have done in the +passing years, but the Polar controversy cannot be +understood unless we get the perspective of the man +who has forced it. Heretofore I have allowed others +to expend their argumentative ammunition. The questions +which I have raised are minor points. On the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span> +main question of Polar attainment there is not now +room for doubt. The Pole has been honestly reached—the +American Eagle has spread its wings of glory over +the world's top. Whether there is room for one or two +or more under those wings, I am content to let the +future decide.</p> + +<p style='text-align: right'><span class="smcap">Frederick A. Cook.</span> </p> +<p class="noin">The Waldorf-Astoria,<br /> + New York, June 15, 1911.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_014.jpg" width="640" height="423" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</a></span></p> +<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="5" summary="" width="80%"> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">I THE POLAR FIGHT</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">II INTO THE BOREAL WILDS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">The Yacht Bradley Leaves Gloucester—Invades the Magic +Waters of the Arctic Seas—Recollections of Boyhood +Ambitions—Beyond the Arctic Circle—The Weaving of +the Polar Spell</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">III THE DRIVING SPUR OF THE POLAR QUEST</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">On the Frigid Pathway of Three Centuries of Heroic +Martyrs—Meeting the Strange People of the Farthest +North—The Life of the Stone Age—On the Chase With +the Eskimos—Manee and Spartan Eskimo Courage</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">IV TO THE LIMITS OF NAVIGATION</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Exciting Hunts for Game With the Eskimos—Arrival at +Etah—Speedy Trip to Annoatok, the Windy Place, Where +Supplies are Found in Abundance—Everything Auspicious +for Dash to the Pole—Determination to Essay the Effort—Bradley +Informed—Debark for the Pole—The Yacht +Returns</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">V PREPARATIONS FOR THE POLAR DASH</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">An Entire Tribe Breathlessly and Feverishly at Work—Mapping +Out the Polar Campaign</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">VI THE CURTAIN OF NIGHT DROPS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Tribe of Two Hundred and Fifty Natives Busily Begin +Preparations for the Polar Dash—Exciting Hunts for the +Unicorn and Other Game From Annoatok to Cape York—Every +Animal Caught Bearing Upon the Success of the +Venture—The Gray-Green Gloom of Twilight in Which +the Eskimo Women Communicate With the Souls of the +Dead</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">VII FIRST WEEK OF THE LONG NIGHT</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Hunting in the Arctic Twilight—Pursuing Bear, Caribou +and Smaller Game in Semi-Gloom</span><span class='pagenum'>[xiv]</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">VIII THE MOONLIGHT QUEST OF THE WALRUS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Desperate and Dangerous Hunting, in Order to Secure Adequate +Supplies for the Polar Dash—A Thrilling and Adventurous +Race Is Made Over Frozen Seas and Icy Mountains +to the Walrus Grounds—Terrific Explosion of the Ice +on Which the Party Hunts—Success in Securing Over +Seven Sled-Loads of Blubber Makes the Pole Seem Nearer—An +Arctic Tragedy</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">IX MIDNIGHT AND MID-WINTER</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">The Equipment and Its Problems—New Art in the Making +of Sledges Combining Lightness—Progress of the Preparations—Christmas +With Its Glad Tidings and Auguries for +Success in Quest of the Pole</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">X EN ROUTE FOR THE POLE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">The Campaign Opens—Last Weeks of the Polar Night—Advance +Parties Sent Out—Awaiting the Dawn</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XI EXPLORING A NEW PASS OVER ACPOHON</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">From the Atlantic Waters at Flagler Bay to the Pacific +Waters at Bay Fiord—The Mecca of the Musk Ox—Battles +With the Bovine Monsters of the Arctic—Sunrise and the +Glory of Sunset</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XII IN GAME TRAILS TO LAND'S END</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_176">176</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Sverdrup's New Wonderland—Feasting on Game En Route +to Svartevoeg—First Shadow Observations—Fights With +Wolves and Bears—The Joys of Zero's Lowest—Threshold +of the Unknown</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XIII THE TRANS-BOREAL DASH BEGINS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_194">194</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">By Forced Efforts and the Use of Axes Speed is Made Over +the Land-Adhering Pack Ice of Polar Sea—The Most Difficult +Travel of the Proposed Journey Successfully Accomplished—Regretful +Parting With the Eskimos</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XIV OVER THE POLAR SEA TO THE BIG +LEAD</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_208">208</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class='pagenum'>[xv]</span><span class="smcap">With Two Eskimo Companions, the Race Poleward Continues +Over Rough and Difficult Ice—The Last Land Fades +Behind—Mirages Leap Into Being and Weave a Mystic +Spell—A Swirling Scene of Moving Ice and Fantastic Effects—Standing +on a Hill of Ice, a Black, Writhing, Snaky +Cut Appears in the Ice Beyond—The Big Lead—A Night of +Anxiety—Five Hundred Miles Already Covered—Four Hundred +to the Pole</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XV CROSSING MOVING SEAS OF ICE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Crossing the Lead—The Thin Ice Heaves Like a Sheet of +Rubber—Creeping Forward Cautiously, the Two Dangerous +Miles are Covered—Bounding Progress Made Over Improving +Ice—The First Hurricane—Dogs Buried and Frozen Into +Masses in Drifts of Snow—The Ice Parts Through the Igloo—Waking +to Find One's Self Falling Into the Cold Sea</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XVI LAND DISCOVERED</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Fighting Progress Through Cutting Cold and Terrific +Storms—Life Becomes a Monotonous Routine of Hardship—The +Pole Inspires With Its Resistless Lure—New Land Discovered +Beyond the Eighty-Fourth Parallel—More Than +Two Hundred Miles From Svartevoeg—The First Six Hundred +Miles Covered</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XVII BEYOND THE RANGE OF LIFE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_248">248</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">With a New Spring to Weary Legs Bradley Land is Left +Behind—Feeling the Aching Vastness of the World Before +Man Was Made—Curious Grimaces of the Midnight +Sun—Sufferings Increase—By Persistent and Laborious +Progress Another Hundred Miles is Covered</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XVIII OVER POLAR SEAS OF MYSTERY</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_260">260</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">The Maddening Tortures of a World Where Ice Water +Seems Hot, and Cold Knives Burn One's Hands—Anguished +Progress on the Last Stretch of Two Hundred Miles Over +Anchored Land Ice—Days of Suffering and Gloom—The +Time of Despair—"It Is Well to Die," Says Ah-We-Lah; +"Beyond is Impossible"</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XIX TO THE POLE—LAST HUNDRED +MILES</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Over Plains of Gold and Seas of Palpitating Color the Dog +Teams, With Noses Down, Tails Erect, Dash Spiritedly +Like Chariot Horses</span>—<span class='pagenum'>[xvi]</span><span class="smcap">Chanting Love Songs the Eskimos +Follow With Swinging Step</span>—<span class="smcap">Tired Eyes Open to New +Glory—Step by Step, With Thumping Hearts the Earth's +Apex Is Neared—At Last! The Goal Is Reached! The Stars +and Stripes are Flung to the Frigid Breezes of the North +Pole!</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XX AT THE NORTH POLE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_286">286</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Observations at the Pole—Meteorological and Astronomical +Phenomena—Singular Stability and Uniformity of the +Thermometer and Barometer—A Spot Where One's Shadow +Is the Same Length Each Hour of the Twenty-Four—Eight +Polar Altitudes of the Sun</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XXI THE RETURN—A BATTLE FOR LIFE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_314">314</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Turned Backs to the Pole and to the Sun—The Dogs, +Seemingly Glad and Seemingly Sensible That Their Noses +Were Pointed Homeward, Barked Shrilly—Suffering From +Intense Depression—The Dangers of Moving Ice, of Storms +and Slow Starvation—The Thought of Five Hundred and +Twenty Miles to Land Causes Despair</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XXII BACK TO LIFE AND BACK TO LAND</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_326">326</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">The Return—Deluded by Drift and Fog—Carried Astray +Over an Unseen Deep—Travel for Twenty Days in a World +of Mists, With the Terror of Death—Awakened From +Sleep by a Heavenly Song—The First Bird—Following +the Winged Harbinger—We Reach Land—A Bleak, Barren +Island Possessing the Charm of Paradise—After Days +Verging on Starvation, We Enjoy a Feast of Uncooked +Game</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XXIII OVERLAND TO JONES SOUND</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_341">341</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Hours of Icy Torture—A Frigid Summer Storm in the Berg-Driven +Arctic Sea—A Perilous Dash Through Twisting +Lanes of Opening Water in a Canvas Canoe—The Drive of +Hunger</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XXIV UNDER THE WHIP OF FAMINE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_355">355</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">By Boat and Sledge, Over the Drifting Ice and Stormy Seas +of Jones Sound—From Rock to Rock in Quest of Food—Making +New Weapons</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XXV BEAR FIGHTS AND WALRUS BATTLES</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_365">365</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class='pagenum'>[xvii]</span><span class="smcap">Dangerous Adventures in a Canvas Boat—On the Verge of +Starvation, a Massive Brute, Weighing Three Thousand +Pounds, Is Captured After a Fifteen-Hour Struggle—Robbed +of Precious Food by Hungry Bears</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XXVI BULL FIGHTS WITH THE MUSK OX</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_378">378</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">An Ancient Cave Explored for Shelter—Death by Starvation +Averted by Hand-to-Hand Encounters With Wild +Animals</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XXVII A NEW ART OF CHASE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_393">393</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Three Weeks Before the Sunset of 1908—Revelling in an +Eden of Game—Peculiarities of Animals of the Arctic—How +Nature Dictates Animal Color—The Quest of Small +Life</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XXVIII A HUNDRED NIGHTS IN AN UNDERGROUND +DEN</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_406">406</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Living Like Men of the Stone Age—The Desolation of the +Long Night—Life About Cape Sparbo—Preparing Equipment +for the Return to Greenland—Sunrise, February 11, +1909</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XXIX HOMEWARD WITH A HALF SLEDGE +AND HALF-FILLED STOMACHS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_425">425</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Three Hundred Miles Through Storm and Snow and Uplifted +Mountains of Ice Troubles—Discover Two Islands—Annoatok +Is Reached—Meeting Harry Whitney—News of +Peary's Seizure of Supplies</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XXX ANNOATOK TO UPERNAVIK</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_447">447</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Eleven Hundred Miles Southward Over Sea and Land—At +Etah—Overland to the Walrus Grounds—Eskimo Comedies +and Tragedies—A Record Run Over Melville Bay—First +News From Passing Ships—The Eclipse of the Sun—Southward +by Steamer Godthaab</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XXXI FROM GREENLAND TO COPENHAGEN</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_463">463</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Forewarning of the Polar Controversy—Banquet at +Eggedesminde—On Board the Hans Egede—Cablegrams +Sent From Lerwick—The Ovation at Copenhagen—Bewildered +Amidst the General Enthusiasm—Peary's First +Messages—Embark on Oscar II for New York</span><span class='pagenum'>[xviii]</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XXXII COPENHAGEN TO THE UNITED +STATES</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_476">476</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Across the Atlantic—Reception in New York—Bewildering +Cyclone of Events—Inside News of the Peary Attack—How +the Web of Shame Was Woven</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XXXIII THE KEY TO THE CONTROVERSY</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_507">507</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Peary and His Past—His Dealing With Rival Explorers—The +Death of Astrup—The Theft of the "Great Iron +Stone," the Natives' Sole Source of Iron</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XXXIV THE MT. MCKINLEY BRIBERY</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_521">521</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">The Bribed, Faked and Forged News Items—The Pro-Peary +Money Powers Encourage Perjury—Mt. McKinley Honestly +Climbed—How, for Peary, a Similar Peak Was Faked</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XXXV THE DUNKLE-LOOSE FORGERY</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_535">535</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">Its Pro-Peary Making</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">XXXVI HOW A GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY PROSTITUTED +ITS NAME</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_541">541</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'><span class="smcap">The Washington Verdict—The Copenhagen Verdict</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin">Retrospect</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_557">557</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin1"><span class="smcap">The Present Status of the Polar Controversy</span> (Preceding Preface)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_iv">(a)</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'>Dr. Cook Vindicated—His Discovery of the North Pole Endorsed by +the Explorers of all the World.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin1"><span class="smcap">The Peary-Parker-Brown Humbug Up To Date</span> (To Finish Page)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_534">534</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'>Parker contradicts former Statement—Says he climbed Mt. McKinley +by Northeast Ridge.—The Ridge used by Dr. Cook.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin1"><span class="smcap">Verdict of the Geographic Historian</span> (By Edwin Swift Balch)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_595">595</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'>Dr. Cook's Record is Accurate—It is Certified—It is Corroborated—He +is the Discoverer of the North Pole.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin1"><span class="smcap">A Request for a National Investigation</span> (By Dr. Frederick A. Cook)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_600">600</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'>Nation should decide—Congress Should Investigate Rival Claims—Letter +to the President.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="negin1"><span class="smcap">Can the Government Escape the Responsibility</span> (By Fred High, Editor +of the Platform)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_605">605</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='justify'>Cook Should Have a Fair Deal—An Unbiased Comparison—Letters to +and from Prominent Men.</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[xix]</a></span></p> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="5" summary="" width="80%"> +<tr><td class="negin">Frederick A. Cook</td><td align='right'><a href="#Frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align='right'><small>FACING<br />PAGE </small></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Rudolph Francke in Arctic Costume</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Midnight—"A Panorama of Black Lacquer and Silver"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">On the Chase for Bear—The Box-House at Annoatok and its Winter Environment</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Man's Prey of the Arctic Sea—Walrus Asleep</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">The Helpers—Northernmost Man and His Wife</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">A Mecca of Musk Ox Along Eureka Sound—A Native Helper—Ah-We-Lah's Prospective Wife</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">The Capture of a Bear—Rounding Up a Herd of Musk Oxen</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_140">140</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Svartevoeg—Camping 500 Miles from the Pole</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">"The Igloo Built, We Prepare for Our Daily Camp"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Camping to Eat and Take Observations—On Again</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Dashing Forward En Route to the Pole</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Departure of Supporting Party—A Breathing Spell—Poleward</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Bradley Land Discovered—Submerged Island of Polar Sea—Going Beyond the Bounds of Life</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_236">236</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Swift Progress over Smooth Ice—Building an Igloo—A Lifeless World of Cold and Ice</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_237">237</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">"Too Weary to Build Igloos, We Used the Silk Tent" "Across Seas of Crystal Glory to the Boreal Centre"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_268">268</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Mending Near the Pole</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">First Camp at the Pole, April 21, 1908</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_300">300</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">At The Pole—"We Were the Only Pulsating Creatures in a Dead World of Ice"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_301">301</a><span class='pagenum'>[xx]</span></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">"With Eager Eyes We Searched the Dusky Plains of Crystal, But There Was No Land, No life, To Relieve the Purple Run of Death"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_332">332</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Record Left in Brass Tube at North Pole</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_333">333</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Observation Determining the Pole—Photograph from Original Note</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_364">364</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Back to Land and Back to Life—Awakened by a Winged Harbinger</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_365">365</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">E-Tuk-I-Shook Waiting for a Seal at a Blow Hole</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_396">396</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Toward Cape Sparbo in Canvas Boat—Walrus—(Prize of 15-Hour Battle) 4,000 Lbs. of Meat and Fat</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_397">397</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Punctured Canvas Boat In Which We Paddled 1,000 Miles—Famine Days, When Only Stray Birds Prevented Starvation—Den In Which We Spent 100 Double Nights</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_428">428</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Bull Fights with the Musk Ox About Cape Sparbo</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_429">429</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Saved from Starvation—The Result of One of Our Last Cartridges</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_460">460</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">"Miles and Miles of Desolation"—Homeward Bound</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_461">461</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Governor Kraul In His Study—Arrival at Upernavik</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_492">492</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="negin">Polar Tragedy—A Deserted Child of the Sultan of the North and Its Mother</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_493">493</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h1>My Attainment of the Pole</h1> + + + +<h3>I.<br /> +<br /> +THE POLAR FIGHT</h3> + + +<p>On April 21, 1908, I reached a spot on the silver-shining +desert of boreal ice whereat a wild wave of joy +filled my heart. I can remember the scene distinctly—it +will remain one of those comparatively few mental +pictures which are photographed with a terribly vivid +distinctness of detail, because of their emotional effect, +during everyone's existence, and which reassert themselves +in the brain like lightning flashes in stresses of +intense emotion, in dreams, in the delirium of sickness, +and possibly in the hour of death.</p> + +<p>I can see the sun lying low above the horizon, +which glittered here and there in shafts of light like +the tip of a long, circular, silver blade. The globe of +fire, veiled occasionally by purplish, silver-shot mists, +was tinged with a faint, burning lilac. Through opening +cracks in the constantly moving field of ice, cold +strata of air rose, deflecting the sun's rays in every +direction, and changing the vision of distant ice irregularities +with a deceptive perspective, as an oar blade +seen in the depth of still water.</p> + +<p>Huge phantom-shapes took form about me; they +were nebulous, their color purplish. About the horizon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +moved what my imagination pictured as the ghosts +of dead armies—strange, gigantic, wraith-like shapes +whose heads rose above the horizon as the heads of a +giant army appearing over the summits of a far-away +mountain. They moved forward, retreated, diminished +in size, and titanically reappeared again. Above them, +in the purple mists and darker clouds, shifted scintillantly +waving flashes of light, orange and crimson, the +ghosts of their earthly battle banners, wind-tossed, +golden and bloodstained.</p> + +<p>I stood gazing with wonder, half-appalled, forgetting +that these were mirages produced by cold air +and deflected light rays, and feeling only as though I +were beholding some vague revelation of victorious +hosts, beings of that other world which in olden times, it +is said, were conjured at Endor. It seemed fitting that +they should march and remarch about me; that the low +beating of the wind should suddenly swell into throbbing +martial music. For that moment I was intoxicated. +I stood alone, apart from my two Eskimo companions, +a shifting waste of purple ice on every side, +alone in a dead world—a world of angry winds, eternal +cold, and desolate for hundreds of miles in every direction +as the planet before man was made.</p> + +<p>I felt in my heart the thrill which any man must +feel when an almost impossible but dearly desired work +is attained—the thrill of accomplishment with which a +poet must regard his greatest masterpiece, which a +sculptor must feel when he puts the finishing touch to +inanimate matter wherein he has expressed consummately +a living thought, which a conqueror must feel +when he has mastered a formidable alien army. Stand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>ing +on this spot, I felt that I, a human being, with all +of humanity's frailties, had conquered cold, evaded +famine, endured an inhuman battling with a rigorous, +infuriated Nature in a soul-racking, body-sapping +journey such as no man perhaps had ever made. I +had proved myself to myself, with no thought at the +time of any worldy applause. Only the ghosts about +me, which my dazzled imagination evoked, celebrated +the glorious thing with me—a thing in which no human +being could have shared. Over and over again I repeated +to myself that I had reached the North Pole, +and the thought thrilled through my nerves and veins +like the shivering sound of silver bells.</p> + +<p>That was my hour of victory. It was the climacteric +hour of my life. The vision and the thrill, despite +all that has passed since then, remain, and will remain +with me as long as life lasts, as the vision and the thrill +of an honest, actual accomplishment.</p> + +<p>That I stood at the time on the very pivotal pin-point +of the earth I do not and never did claim; I may +have, I may not. In that moving world of ice, of constantly +rising mists, with a low-lying sun whose rays +are always deflected, such an ascertainment of actual +position, even with instruments in the best workable +condition, is, as all scientists will agree, impossible. +That I reached the North Pole approximately, and +ascertained my location as accurately, as painstakingly, +as the terrestrial and celestial conditions and the best instruments +would allow; that I thrilled with victory, +and made my claim on as honest, as careful, as scientific +a basis of observations and calculations as any human +being could, I do emphatically assert. That any man,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +in reaching this region, could do more than I did to +ascertain definitely the mathematical Pole, and that any +more voluminous display of figures could substantiate +a claim of greater accuracy, I do deny. I believe still +what I told the world when I returned, that I am the +first white man to reach that spot known as the North +Pole as far as it is, or ever will be, humanly possible to +ascertain the location of that spot.</p> + +<p>Few men in all history, I am inclined to believe, +have ever been made the subject of such vicious attacks, +of such malevolent assailing of character, of such +a series of perjured and forged charges, of such a widespread +and relentless press persecution, as I; and few +men, I feel sure, have ever been made to suffer so bitterly +and so inexpressibly as I because of the assertion +of my achievement. So persistent, so egregious, so +overwhelming were the attacks made upon me that for +a time my spirit was broken, and in the bitterness of my +soul I even felt desirous of disappearing to some remote +corner of the earth, to be forgotten. I knew that envy +was the incentive to all the unkind abuses heaped upon +me, and I knew also that in due time, when the public +agitation subsided and a better perspective followed, +the justice of my claim would force itself to the inevitable +light of truth.</p> + +<p>With this confidence in the future, I withdrew from +the envious, money-waged strife to the calm and restfulness +of my own family circle. The campaign of infamy +raged and spent its force. The press lined up +with this dishonest movement by printing bribed, faked +and forged news items, deliberately manufactured by +my enemies to feed a newspaper hunger for sensation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +In going away for a rest it did not seem prudent to +take the press into my confidence, a course which resulted +in the mean slurs that I had abandoned my cause. +This again was used by my enemies to blacken my character. +In reality, I had tried to keep the ungracious +Polar controversy within the bounds of decent, gentlemanly +conduct; but indecency had become the keynote, +and against this, mild methods served no good purpose. +I preferred, therefore, to go away and allow the +atmosphere to clear of the stench stirred up by rival +interest; but while I was away, my enemies were +watched, and I am here now to uncover the darkest campaign +of bribery and conspiracy ever forged in a strife +for honor.</p> + +<p>Now that my disappointment, my bitterness has +passed, that my hurt has partly healed, I have determined +to tell the whole truth about myself, about the +charges made against me, and about those by whom the +charges were made. Herein, FOR THE FIRST +TIME, I will tell how and why I believed I reached the +North Pole, and give fully the record upon which this +claim is based. Only upon such a complete account of +day-by-day traveling and such observations, can any +claim rest.</p> + +<p>Despite the hullabaloo of voluminous so-called +proofs offered by a rival, I am certain that the unprejudiced +reader will herein find as complete a story, +and as valuable figures as those ever offered by anyone +for any such achievement in exploration as mine. +Herein, for the first time, shall I answer <i>in toto</i> all +charges made against me, and this because the entire +truth concerning these same charges I have not suc<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>ceeded +in giving the world through other channels. Because +of the power of those who arrayed themselves +against me, I found the columns of the press closed to +much that I wished to say; articles which I wrote for +publication underwent editorial excision, and absolutely +necessary explanations, which in themselves attacked +my assailants, were eliminated.</p> + +<p>Only by reading my own story, as fully set down +herein, can anyone judge of the relative value of my +claim and that of my rival claimant; only by so doing +can anyone get at the truth of the plot made to discredit +me; only by doing so can one learn the reason for all of +my actions, for my failure to meet charges at the time +they were made, for my disappearing at a time when +such action was unfairly made to confirm the worst +charges of my detractors. That I have been too charitable +with those who attempted to steal the justly +deserved honors of my achievement, I am now convinced; +when desirable, I shall now, having felt the +smarting sting of the world's whip, and in order to +justify myself, use the knife. I shall tell the truth +even though it hurts. I have not been spared, and I +shall spare no one in telling the unadorned and unpleasant +story of a man who has been bitterly +wronged, whose character has been assailed by bought +and perjured affidavits, whose life before he returned +from the famine-land of ice and cold—the world of his +conquest—was endangered, designedly or not, by a +dishonest appropriation of food supplies by one who +afterwards endeavored to steal from him his honor, +which is more dear than life.</p> + +<p>To be doubted, and to have one's honesty assailed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +has been the experience of many explorers throughout +history. The discoverer of our own continent, Christopher +Columbus, was thrown into prison, and another, +Amerigo Vespucci, was given the honor, his name to +this day marking the land which was reached only +through the intrepidity and single-hearted, single-sustained +confidence of a man whose vision his own people +doubted. Even in my own time have explorers been +assailed, among them Stanley, whose name for a time +was shrouded with suspicion, and others who since have +joined the ranks of my assailants. Unfortunately, in +such cases the matter of proof and the reliability of any +claim, basicly, must rest entirely upon the intangible +evidence of a man's own word; there can be no such +thing as a palpable and indubitable proof. And in the +case when a man's good faith is aspersed and his character +assailed, the world's decision must rest either upon +his own word or that of his detractors.</p> + +<p>Returning from the North, exhausted both in body +and brain by a savage and excruciating struggle against +famine and cold, yet thrilling with the glorious conviction +of a personal attainment, I was tossed to the +zenith of worldly honor on a wave of enthusiasm, a +world-madness, which startled and bewildered me. In +that swift, sudden, lightning-flash ascension to glory, +which I had not expected, and in which I was as a bit of +helpless drift in the thundering tossing of an ocean +storm, I was decorated with unasked-for honors, the +laudations of the press of the world rang in my ears, the +most notable of living men hailed me as one great among +them. I found myself the unwilling and uncomfortable +guest of princes, and I was led forward to receive +the gracious hand of a King.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> + +<p>Returning to my own country, still marveling that +such honors should be given because I had accomplished +what seemed, and still seems, a merely personal achievement, +and of little importance to anyone save to him +who throbs with the gratification of a personal success, +I was greeted with mad cheers and hooting whistles, +with bursting guns and blaring bands. I was led +through streets filled with applauding men and singing +children and arched with triumphal flowers. In a dizzy +whirl about the country—which now seems like a delirious +dream—I experienced what I am told was an ovation +unparalleled of its kind.</p> + +<p>Coincident with my return to civilization, and while +the world was ringing with congratulations, there came +stinging through the cold air from the North, by wireless +electric flashes, word from Mr. Peary that he had +reached the North Pole and that, in asserting such a +claim myself, I was a liar. I did not then doubt the good +faith of Peary's claim; having reached the boreal center +myself, under extremely favorable weather conditions, I +felt that he, with everything in his favor, could do as +much a year later, as he claimed. I replied with all candor +what I felt, that there was glory enough for two. +But I did, of course, feel the sting of my rival's unwarranted +and virulent attacks. In the stress of any great +crisis, the average human mind is apt to be carried away +by unwise impulses.</p> + +<p>Following Mr. Peary's return, I found myself the +object of a campaign to discredit me in which, I believe, +as an explorer, I stand the most shamefully abused man +in the history of exploration. Deliberately planned, +inspired at first, and at first directed, by Mr. Peary from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +the wireless stations of Labrador, this campaign +was consistently and persistently worked out by a +powerful and affluent organization, with unlimited +money at its command, which has had as its allies dishonest +pseudo-scientists, financially and otherwise interested +in the success of Mr. Peary's expedition. With +a chain of powerful newspapers, a financial backer of +Peary led a campaign to destroy confidence in me. I +found myself in due time, before I realized the importance +of underhand attacks, in a quandary which baffled +and bewildered me. Without any organization behind +me, without any wires to pull, without, at the time, any +appreciable amount of money for defence, I felt what +anyone who is not superhuman would have felt, a sickening +sense of helplessness, a disgust at the human +duplicity which permitted such things, a sense of the +futility of the very thing I had done and its little worth +compared to the web of shame my enemies were endeavoring +to weave about me.</p> + +<p>One of the remarkable things about modern journalism +is that, by persistent repetition, it can create as a +fact in the public mind a thing which is purely immaterial +or untrue. Taking the cue from Peary, there was +at the beginning a widespread and unprecedented call +for "proofs," which in some vague way were to consist +of unreduced reckonings. Mr. Peary had his own—he +had buried part of mine. I did not at the time instantly +produce these vague and obscure proofs, knowing, as all +scientists know, that figures must inevitably be inadequate +and that any convincing proof that can exist is to +be found only in the narrative account of such a quest. I +did not appreciate that in the public mind, because of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +the newspapers' criticisms, there was growing a demand +for this vague something. For this reason, I did not +consider an explanation of the absurdity of this exaggerated +position necessary.</p> + +<p>Nor did I appreciate the relative effect of the +National Geographic Society's "acceptance" of Mr. +Peary's so-called "proofs" while mine were not forthcoming. +I did not know at the time, what has since been +brought out in the testimony given before the Naval +Committee in Washington, that the National Geographic +Society's verdict was based upon an indifferent +examination of worthless observations and a few +seconds' casual observation of Mr. Peary's instruments +by several members of the Society in the Pennsylvania +Railroad Station at Washington. With many lecture +engagements, I considered that I was right in doing +what every other explorer, including Mr. Peary himself, +had done before me; that is, to fulfill my lecture +and immediate literary opportunities while there +was a great public interest aroused, and to offer a narrative +of greater length, with field observations and +extensive scientific data, later.</p> + +<p>Following the exaggerated call for proofs, there +began a series of persistently planned attacks. So +petty and insignificant did many of them seem to me +that I gave them little thought. My speed limits were +questioned, this charge being dropped when it was found +that Mr. Peary's had exceeded mine. The use by the +newspaper running my narrative story of photographs +of Arctic scenes—which never change in character—that +had been taken by me on previous trips, was held +up as visible evidence that I was a faker! Errors which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +crept into my newspaper account because of hasty preparation, +and which were not corrected because there +was no time to read proofs, were eagerly seized upon, +and long, abstruse and impressive mathematical dissertations +were made on these to prove how unscrupulous +and unreliable I was.</p> + +<p>The photograph of the flag at the Pole was put +forth by one of Mr. Peary's friends to prove on <i>prima +facie</i> evidence that I had faked. Inasmuch as the original +negative was vague because of the non-actinic light +in the North, the newspaper photographers retouched +the print and painted on it a shadow as being cast from +the flag and snow igloos. This shadow was seized upon +avidly, and after long and learned calculations, was +cited as showing that the picture was taken some five +hundred miles from the Pole.</p> + +<p>A formidable appearing statement, signed by various +members of his expedition, and copyrighted by the +clique of honor-blind boosters, was issued by Mr. +Peary. In this he gave statements of my two Eskimo +companions to the effect that I had not gotten out of +sight of land for more than one or two "sleeps" on my +trip. I knew that I had encouraged the delusion of my +Eskimos that the mirages and low-lying clouds which +appeared almost daily were signs of land. In their ignorance +and their eagerness to be near land, they believed +this, and by this innocent deception I prevented +the panic which seizes every Arctic savage when he finds +himself upon the circumpolar sea out of sight of land. I +have since learned that Mr. Peary's Eskimos became +panic-stricken near the Big Lead on his last journey +and that it was only by the life-threatening announce<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>ment +to them of his determination to leave them alone +on the ice (to get back to land as best they might or +starve to death) that he compelled them to accompany +him.</p> + +<p>In any case, I did not consider as important any +testimony of the Eskimos which Mr. Peary might cite, +knowing as well as he did that one can get any sort of +desired reply from these natives by certain adroit questioning, +and knowing also that the alleged route on his +map which he said they drew was valueless, inasmuch as +an Eskimo out of sight of land and in an unfamiliar +region has no sense of location. I felt the whole statement +to be what it was, a trumped-up document in +which my helpers, perhaps unwittingly, had been +adroitly led to affirm what Mr. Peary by jesuitical and +equivocal questioning planned to have them say, and +that it was therefore unworthy of a reply.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 541px;"> +<img src="images/illo_035.jpg" width="541" height="800" alt="RUDOLPH FRANCKE IN ARCTIC COSTUME" title="" /> +<span class="caption">RUDOLPH FRANCKE IN ARCTIC COSTUME</span> +</div> + +<p>I had left my instruments and part of the unreduced +reckonings with Mr. Harry Whitney, a fact +which Mr. Whitney himself confirmed in published +press interviews when he first arrived—in the heat of the +controversy and after I left Copenhagen—in Sidney. +When interviews came from Mr. Peary insinuating +that I had left no instruments in the North, this +becoming a definite charge which was taken up +with great hue and cry, I bitterly felt this to be +a deliberate untruth on Mr. Peary's part. I have since +learned that one of Mr. Peary's officers cross-questioned +my Eskimos, and that by showing them Mr. Peary's +own instruments he discovered just what instruments I +had had with me on my trip, and that by describing the +method of using these instruments to E-tuk-i-shook and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +Ah-we-lah, Bartlett learned from them that I did take +observations. This information he conveyed to Mr. +Peary before his expedition left Etah for America, and +this knowledge Mr. Peary and his party, deliberately +and with malicious intent, concealed on their return. +At the time I had no means of refuting this insinuation; +it was simply my word or Mr. Peary's.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 540px;"> +<img src="images/illo_036.jpg" width="540" height="800" alt="MIDNIGHT" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MIDNIGHT—“A PANORAMA OF BLACK LACQUER AND SILVER.”</span> +</div> + + +<p>I had no extraordinary proofs to offer, but, such +as they were, I now know, by comparison with the +published reports of Mr. Peary himself, they were as +good as any offered by anyone. I was perhaps unfortunate +in not having, as Mr. Peary had, a confederate +body of financially interested friends to back me up, as +was the National Geographic Society.</p> + +<p>Not satisfied with unjustly attacking my claim, +Mr. Peary's associates proceeded to assail my past career, +and I was next confronted by an affidavit made +by my guide, Barrill, to the effect that I had not scaled +Mt. McKinley, an affidavit which, as I later secured +evidence, had been bought. A widely heralded "investigation" +was announced by a body of "explorers" of +which Peary was president. One of Colonel Mann's +muck-rakers was secretary, while its moving spirit was +Mr. Peary's press agent, Herbert L. Bridgman. In a +desperate effort to help Peary, a cowardly side issue was +forced through Professor Herschell Parker, who had +been with me on the Mt. McKinley trip but who had +turned back after becoming panic-stricken in the crossing +of mountain torrents. Mr. Parker expressed doubt +of my achievements because he differed with me as to the +value of the particular instrument to ascertain altitude +which I, with many other mountain climbers, used. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +had offered all possible proofs as to having climbed the +mountain, as full and adequate proofs as any mountaineer +could, or ever has offered.</p> + +<p>I resented the meddlesomeness of this pro-Peary +group of kitchen explorers, not one of whom knew the +first principles of mountaineering. From such an investigation, +started to help Peary in his black-hand effort +to force the dagger, with the money power easing +men's conscience—as was evident at the time everywhere—no +fair result could be expected. And as to the +widely printed Barrill affidavit—this carried on its face +the story of pro-Peary bribery and conspiracy. I have +since learned that for it $1,500 and other considerations +were paid. Here was a self-confessed liar. I did not +think that a sane public therefore could take this underhanded +pro-Peary charge as to the climb of Mt. McKinley +seriously. Indeed, I paid little attention to it, +but by using the cutting power of the press my enemies +succeeded in inflicting a wound in my side.</p> + +<p>I was thus plunged into the bewildering chaos +which friends and enemies created, and swept for three +months through a cyclone of events which I believe no +human being could have stood. Before returning, I felt +weakened mentally and physically by the rigors of the +North, where for a year I barely withstood starvation. +I was now whirled about the country, daily delivering +lectures, greeting thousands of people, buffeted by +mobs of well-meaning beings, and compelled to attend +dinners and receptions numbering two hundred in sixty +days. The air hissed about me with the odious charges +which came from every direction. I was alone, helpless, +without a single wise counsellor, under the charge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +of the enemies' press, mud-charged guns fired from +every point of the compass. Unlimited funds were +being consumed in the infamous mill of bribery.</p> + +<p>I had not the money nor the nature to fight in this +kind of battle—so I withdrew. At once, howls of execration +gleefully rose from the ranks of my enemies; +my departure was heralded gloriously as a confession +of imposture. Advantage was taken of my absence +and new, perjured, forged charges were made to blacken +my name. Far from my home and unable to defend +myself, Dunkle and Loose swore falsely to having +manufactured figures and observations under my direction. +When I learned of this, much as it hurt me, I +knew that the report which I had sent to Copenhagen +would, if it did anything, disprove by the very figures +in it the malicious lying document published in the New +York <i>Times</i>. This, combined with the verdict rendered +by the University of Copenhagen—a neutral verdict +which carried no implication of the non-attainment of +the Pole, but which was interpreted as a rejection—helped +to stamp me in the minds of many people as the +most monumental impostor the world has ever seen.</p> + +<p>I fully realized that under the circumstances the +only verdict of an unprejudiced body on any such proofs +to such a claim must be favorable or neutral. The +members of the University of Copenhagen who examined +my papers were neither personal friends nor members +of a body financially interested in my quest. Their +verdict was honest. Mr. Peary's Washington verdict +was dishonest, for two members of the jury admitted +a year later in Congress, under pressure, that in the +Peary data there was no absolute proof.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> + +<p>By the time I determined to return to my native +country and state my case, I had been placed, I am +certain, in a position of undeserved discredit unparalleled +in history. No epithet was too vile to couple with +my name. I was declared a brazen cheat who had concocted +the most colossal lie of ages whereby to hoax an +entire world for gain. I was made the subject of cheap +jokes. My name in antagonistic newspapers had become +a synonym for cheap faking. I was compelled +to see myself held up gleefully as an impostor, a liar, a +fraud, an unscrupulous scoundrel, one who had tried to +steal honors from another, and who, to escape exposure, +had fled to obscurity.</p> + +<p>All the scientific work which scientists themselves +had accepted as valuable, all the necessary hardships +and the inevitable agonies of my last Arctic journey +were forgotten; I was coupled with the most notorious +characters in history in a press which panders to the +lowest of human emotions and delights in men's shame. +When I realized how egregious, how frightful, how undeserved +was all this, my soul writhed; when I saw +clearly, with the perspective which only time can give, +how I, stepping aside, in errors of confused judgment +which were purely human, had seemingly contributed to +my unhappy plight, I felt the sting of ignominy greater +than that which has broken stronger men's hearts.</p> + +<p>For the glory which the world gives to such an +accomplishment as the discovery of the North Pole, I +care very little, but when the very result of such a victory +is used as a whip to inflict cuts that mark my future +destiny, I have a right to call a halt. I have claimed +no national honors, want no medals or money. My feet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +stepped over the Polar wastes with a will fired only by +a personal ambition to succeed in a task where all the +higher human powers were put to the test of fitness. +That victory was honestly won. All that the achievement +ever meant to me—the lure of it before I achieved +it, the only satisfaction that remains since—is that it is +a personal accomplishment of brain and muscle over +hitherto unconquered forces, a thought in which I have +pride. From the tremendous ovations that greeted me +when I returned to civilization I got not a single thrill. +I did thrill with the handclasp of confident, kindly people. +I still thrill with the handclasp of my countrymen.</p> + +<p>Insofar as the earthly glory and applause are concerned, +I should be only too glad to share them, with all +material accruements, to any honest, manly rivals—those +of the past and those of the future. But against +the unjust charges which have been made against me, +against the aspersions on my personal integrity, against +the ignominy with which my name has been besmirched, +I will fight until the public gets a normal perspective.</p> + +<p>I have never hoaxed a mythical achievement. +Everything I have ever claimed was won by hard labor, +by tremendous physical fortitude and endurance, and +by such personal sacrifice as only I, and my immediate +family, will ever know.</p> + +<p>For this reason, I returned to my country in the +latter part of 1910, as I always intended to do, after a +year's rest. By this time I knew that my enemies +would have said all that was possible about me; the excitement +of the controversy would have quieted, and I +should have the advantage of the last word.</p> + +<p>In the heat of the controversy, only just re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>turned +in a weakened condition from the North, and +mentally bewildered by the unexpected maelstrom of +events, I should not have been able, with justice to myself, +to have met all the charges, criminal and silly, +which were made against me. Even what I did say +was misquoted and distorted by a sensational press +which found it profitable to add fuel to the controversy. +Sometimes I feel that no man ever born has been so +variedly, so persistently lied about, misrepresented, +made the butt of such countless untruths as myself. +When I consider the lies, great and small, which for +more than a year, throughout the entire world, have +been printed about me, I am filled almost with hopelessness. +And sometimes, when I think how I have +been unjustly dubbed as the most colossal liar of history, +I am filled with a sort of sardonic humor.</p> + +<p>Returning to my country, determined to state my +case freely and frankly, and making the honest admission +that any claim to the definite, actual attainment of +the North Pole—the mathematical pin-point on which +the earth spins—must rest upon assumptions, because +of the impossibility of accuracy in observations, I found +that this admission, which every explorer would have +to make, which Mr. Peary was unwillingly forced to +make at the Congressional investigation, was construed +throughout the country and widely heralded as a "confession," +that garbled extracts were lifted from the +context of my magazine story and their meaning distorted. +In hundreds of newspapers I was represented +as confessing to a fraudulent claim or as making a plea +of insanity. A full answer to the charges made against +me, necessary in order to justly cover my case, because<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +of the controversial nature of certain statements which +involved Mr. Peary, was prohibited by the contract I +found it necessary to sign in order to get any statement +of a comparatively ungarbled sort before a public which +had read Mr. Peary's own account of his journey.</p> + +<p>I found the columns of the press of my country +closed to the publication of statements which involved +my enemies, because of the unfounded prejudice +created against me during my absence and because of +the power of Mr. Peary's friends. It is almost impossible +in any condition for anyone to secure a refutation +for an unfounded attack in the American papers. With +the entire press of the country printing misstatements, +I was almost helpless. The justice, kindliness and generous +spirit of fair dealing of the American people, +however, was extended to me—I found the American +people glad—nay, eager—to listen.</p> + +<p>It is this spirit which has encouraged me, after the +shameful campaign of opprobrium which well-nigh +broke my spirit, to tell the entire and unalterable truth +about myself and an achievement in which I still believe—in +fairness to myself, in order to clear myself, +in order that the truth about the discovery of the North +Pole may be known by my people and in order that +history may record its verdict upon a full, free and +frank exposition. I do not address myself to any +clique of geographers or scientists, but to the great +public of the world, and herein, for the first time, shall +I give fully whatever proofs there may be of my conquest. +Upon these records must conviction rest.</p> + +<p>Did I actually reach the North Pole? When I +returned to civilization and reported that the boreal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +center had been attained, I believed that I had reached +the spot toward which valiant men had strained for +more than three hundred years. I still believe that I +reached the boreal center as far as it is possible for any +human being to ascertain it. If I was mistaken in +approximately placing my feet upon the pin-point +about which this controversy has raged, I maintain that +it is the inevitable mistake any man must make. To +touch that spot would be an accident. That any other +man has more accurately determined the Pole I do +deny. That Mr. Peary reached the North Pole—or +its environs—with as fair accuracy as was possible, I +have never denied. That Mr. Peary was better fitted +to reach the Pole, and better equipped to locate this +mythical spot, I do not admit. In fact, I believe that, +inasmuch as the purely scientific ascertainment is a +comparatively simple matter, I stood a better chance of +more scientifically and more accurately marking the +actual spot than Mr. Peary. I reached my goal when +the sun was twelve degrees above the horizon, and was +therefore better able to mark a mathematical position +than Mr. Peary could have with the sun at less than +seven degrees. Mr. Peary's case rests upon three +observations of sun altitude so low that, as proof of a +position, they are worthless.</p> + +<p>Besides taking observations, which, as I shall explain +in due course in my narrative, cannot be adequate, +I also ascertained what I believed to be my approximate +position at the boreal center and en route by measuring +the shadows each hour of the long day. Inasmuch as +one's shadow decreases or increases in length as the sun +rises toward the meridian or descends, at the boreal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +center, where the sun circles the entire horizon at practically +the same height during the entire day, one's +shadow in this region of mystery is of the same length. +In this observation, which is so simple that a child may +understand it, is a sure and certain means of approximately +ascertaining the North Pole. I took advantage +of this method, which does not seem to have occurred to +any other Arctic traveler, and this helped to bring +conviction.</p> + +<p>I shall in this volume present with detail the story +of my Arctic journey—I shall tell how it was possible +for me to reach my goal, why I believe I attained that +goal; and upon this record must the decision of my people +rest. I shall herein tell the story of an unfair and +unworthy plot to ruin the reputation of an innocent +man because of an achievement the full and prior credit +of which was desired by a brutally selfish, brutally unscrupulous +rival. I shall tell of a tragedy compared +with which the North Pole and any glory accruing to +its discoverer pales into insignificance—the tragedy of +a spirit that was almost broken, of a man whose honor +and pride was cut with knives in unclean hands.</p> + +<p>When you have read all this, then, and only then, +in fairness to yourself and in fairness to me, do I ask +you to form your opinion. Only by reading this can +you learn the full truth about me, about my claim and +about the plot to discredit me, of the charges made +against me, and the reason for all of my own actions. +So persistent, so world-wide has been the press campaign +made by my enemies, and so egregious have the +charges seemed against me, so multitudinous have the +lies, fake stories, fake interviews, fake confessions been,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +so blatant have rung the hideous cries of liar, impostor, +cheat and fraud, that the task to right myself, explain +myself, and bring the truth into clean relief has seemed +colossal.</p> + +<p>To return to my country and face the people in +view of all that was being said, with my enemies exultant, +with antagonistic press men awaiting me as some +beast to be devoured, required a determined gritting of +the teeth and a reserve temperament to prevent an +undignified battle.</p> + +<p>For against such things nature dictates the tactics +of the tiger. I faced my people, I found them fair and +kindly. I accused my enemies of their lies, and they +have remained silent. Titanic as is this effort of forcing +fair play where biased abuse has reigned so long, I am +confident of success. I am confident of the honesty +and justice of my people; of their ability spiritually to +sense, psychically to appreciate the earmarks of a clean, +true effort—a worthy ambition and a real attainment.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> +<h2>INTO THE BOREAL WILDS</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">THE YACHT BRADLEY LEAVES GLOUCESTER—INVADES THE +MAGIC OF THE WATERS OF THE ARCTIC SEAS—RECOLLECTION +OF BOYHOOD AMBITIONS—BEYOND THE +ARCTIC CIRCLE—THE WEAVING OF THE POLAR SPELL</p> + +<h3>II<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Over the Arctic Circle</span></h3> + + +<p>On July 3, 1907, between seven and eight o'clock +in the evening, the yacht, which had been renamed the +<i>John B. Bradley</i>, quietly withdrew from the pier at +Gloucester, Massachusetts, and, turning her prow +oceanward, slowly, quietly started on her historic journey +to the Arctic seas.</p> + +<p>In the tawny glow of sunset, which was fading in +the western sky, she looked, with her new sails unfurled, +her entire body newly painted a spotless white, like +some huge silver bird alighting upon the sunshot waters +of the bay. On board, all was quiet. I stood alone, +gazing back upon the picturesque fishing village with +a tender throb at my heart, for it was the last village of +my country which I might see for years, or perhaps ever.</p> + +<p>Along the water's edge straggled tiny ramshackle +boat houses, dun-colored sheds where fish are dried, and +the humble miniature homes of the fisherfolk, in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +windows of which lights soon after appeared. On the +bay about us, fishing boats were lazily bobbing up and +down; in some, old bearded fishermen with broad hats, +smoking clay and corncob pipes, were drying their +seines. Other boats went by, laden with wriggling, +silver-scaled fish; along the shore I could still see tons +of fish being unloaded from scores of boats. Through the +rosy twilight, voices came over the water, murmurous +sounds from the shore, cries from the sea mixed with +the quaint oaths of fisherfolk at work. Ashore, the boys +of the village were testing their firecrackers for the morrow; +sputtering explosions cracked through the air. +Occasionally a faint fire rocket scaled the sky. But no +whistles tooted after our departure. No visiting crowds +of curiosity-seekers ashore were frenziedly waving us +good-bye.</p> + +<p>An Arctic expedition had been born without the +usual clamor. Prepared in one month, and financed by +a sportsman whose only mission was to hunt game +animals in the North, no press campaign heralded our +project, no government aid had been asked, nor had +large contributions been sought from private individuals +to purchase luxuries for a Pullman jaunt of a large +party Poleward. For, although I secretly cherished the +ambition, there was no definite plan to essay the North +Pole.</p> + +<p>At the Holland House in New York, a compact +was made between John R. Bradley and myself to +launch an Arctic expedition. Because of my experience, +Mr. Bradley delegated to me the outfitting of the +expedition, and had turned over to me money enough +to pay the costs of the hunting trip. A Gloucester<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +fishing schooner had been purchased by me and was +refitted, covered and strengthened for ice navigation. +To save fuel space and to gain the advantage of a +steamer, I had a Lozier gasoline motor installed. There +had been put on board everything of possible use and +comfort in the boreal wild. As it is always possible +that a summer cruising ship is likely to be lost or delayed +a year, common prudence dictated a preparation +for the worst emergencies.</p> + +<p>So far as the needs of my own personal expedition +were concerned, I had with me on the yacht plenty of +hard hickory wood for the making of sledges, instruments, +clothing and other apparatus gathered with +much economy during my former years of exploration, +and about one thousand pounds of pemmican. These +supplies, necessary to offset the danger of shipwreck +and detention by ice, were also all that would be required +for a Polar trip. When, later, I finally decided +on a Polar campaign, extra ship supplies, contributed +from the boat, were stored at Annoatok. There, also, +my supply of pemmican was amplified by the stores of +walrus meat and fat prepared during the long winter +by myself, Rudolph Francke and the Eskimos.</p> + +<p>As the yacht slowly soared toward the ocean, and +night descended over the fishing village with its home +lights glimmering cheerfully as the stars one by one +flecked the firmament with dots of fire, I felt that at +last I had embarked upon my destiny. Whether I +should be able to follow my heart's desire I did not +know; I did not dare hazard a guess. But I was leaving +my country, now on the eve of celebrating its freedom, +behind me; I had elected to live in a world of ice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +and cold, of hunger and death, which lay before me—thousands +of miles to the North.</p> + +<p>Day by day passed monotonously; we only occasionally +saw writhing curves of land to the west of us; +about us was the illimitable sea. That I had started on +a journey which might result in my starting for the +Pole, that my final chance had come, vaguely thrilled +me. Yet the full purport of my hope seemed beyond +me. On the journey to Sydney my mind was full. I +thought of the early days of my childhood, of the strange +ambition which grew upon me, of my struggles, and the +chance which favored me in the present expedition.</p> + +<p>In the early days of my childhood, of which I now +had only indistinct glimmerings, I remembered a restless +surge in my little bosom, a yearning for something +that was vague and undefined. This was, I suppose, +that nebulous desire which sometimes manifests itself in +early youth and later is asserted in strivings toward +some splendid, sometimes spectacular aim. My boyhood +was not happy. As a tiny child I was discontented, +and from the earliest days of consciousness I +felt the burden of two things which accompanied me +through later life—an innate and abnormal desire for +exploration, then the manifestation of my yearning, and +the constant struggle to make ends meet, that sting of +poverty, which, while it tantalizes one with its horrid +grind, sometimes drives men by reason of the strength +developed in overcoming its concomitant obstacles to +some extraordinary accomplishment.</p> + +<p>As a very small boy, I remember being fascinated +by the lure of a forbidden swimming pool. One day, +when but little over five, I, impelled to test the depth,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +plunged to the center, where the water was above my +head, and nearly lost my life. I shall never forget that +struggle, and though I nearly gave out, in that short +time I learned to swim. It seems to me now I have +been swimming and struggling ever since.</p> + +<p>Abject poverty and hard work marked my school +days. When quite a boy, after the death of my father, +I came to New York. I sold fruit at one of the markets. +I saved my money. I enjoyed no luxuries. +These days vividly occur in my mind. Later I engaged +in a dairy business in Brooklyn, and on the meager +profits undertook to study medicine.</p> + +<p>At that time the ambition which beset me was undirected; +it was only later that I found, almost by accident, +what became its focusing point. I graduated +from the University of New York in 1890. I felt (as +what young man does not?) that I possessed unusual +qualifications and exceptional ability. An office was +fitted up, and my anxiety over the disappearing pennies +was eased by the conviction that I had but to hang +out my shingle and the place would be thronged with +patients. Six months passed. There had been about +three patients.</p> + +<p>I recall sitting alone one gloomy winter day. +Opening a paper, I read that Peary was preparing his +1891 expedition to the Arctic. I cannot explain my +sensations. It was as if a door to a prison cell had +opened. I felt the first indomitable, commanding call +of the Northland. To invade the Unknown, to assail +the fastness of the white, frozen North—all that was +latent in me, the impetus of that ambition born in childhood, +perhaps before birth, and which had been stifled +and starved, surged up tumultuously within me.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<p>I volunteered, and accompanied Peary, on this, the +expedition of 1891-92, as surgeon. Whatever merit +my work possessed has been cited by others.</p> + +<p>Unless one has been in the Arctic, I suppose it is +impossible to understand its fascination—a fascination +which makes men risk their lives and endure inconceivable +hardships for, as I view it now, no profitable personal +purpose of any kind. The spell was upon me +then. It was upon me as I recalled those early days on +the <i>Bradley</i> going Northward. With a feeling of sadness +I realize that the glamor is all gone now.</p> + +<p>On the Peary and all my subsequent expeditions I +served without pay.</p> + +<p>On my return from that trip I managed to make +ends meet by meager earnings from medicine. I was +nearly always desperately hard pressed for money. I +tried to organize several coöperative expeditions to the +Arctic. These failed. I then tried to arouse interest in +Antarctic exploration, but without success. Then came +the opportunity to join the Belgian Antarctic Expedition, +again without pay.</p> + +<p>On my return I dreamed of a plan to attain the +South Pole, and for a long time worked on a contrivance +for that end—an automobile arranged to travel +over ice. Financial failure again confronted me. Disappointment +only added to my ambition; it scourged me +to a determination, a conviction that—I want you to +remember this, to bear in mind the mental conviction +which buoyed me—I must and should succeed. It is +always this innate conviction which encourages men to +exceptional feats, to tremendous failures or splendid, +single-handed success.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> + +<p>A summer in the Arctic followed my Antarctic +trip, and I returned to invade the Alaskan wilds. I succeeded +in scaling Mt. McKinley. After my Alaskan +expeditions, the routine of my Brooklyn office work +seemed like the confinement of prison. I fretted and +chafed at the thought. Let me have a chance, and I +would succeed. This thought always filled my mind. +I convinced myself that in some way the attainment of +one of the Poles—the effort on which I had spent sixteen +years—would become possible.</p> + +<p>I had no money. My work in exploration had +netted me nothing, and all my professional income was +soon spent. Unless you have felt the goading, devilish +grind of poverty hindering you, dogging you, you cannot +know the mental fury into which I was lashed.</p> + +<p>I waited, and fortune favored me in that I met +Mr. John R. Bradley. We planned the Arctic expedition +on which I was now embarked. Mr. Bradley's interest +in the trip was that of a great sportsman, eager +to seek big game in the Arctic. My immediate purpose +was to return again to the frozen North. The least +the journey would give me was an opportunity to complete +the study of the Eskimos which I had started +in 1891.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bradley and I had talked, of course, of the +Pole; but it was not an important incentive to the +journey. Back in my brain, barely above the subconscious +realm, was the feeling that this, however, might +offer opportunity in the preparation for a final future +determination. I, therefore, without any conscious +purpose, and with my last penny, paid out of my purse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +for extra supplies for a personal expedition should I +leave the ship.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>Aboard the <i>Bradley</i>, going northward, my plans +were not at all definite. Even had I known before +leaving New York that I should try for the Pole, I +should not have sought any geographical license from +some vague and unknown authority. Though much has +since been made by critics of our quiet departure, I +always felt the quest of the Pole a personal ambition<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>, +a crazy hunger I had to satisfy.</p> + +<p>Fair weather followed us to Sydney, Cape Breton.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p><p>From this point we sailed over the Gulf of St. +Lawrence, then entered the Straits of Belle Isle at a +lively speed. On a cold, cheerless day in the middle of +July we arrived at Battle Harbor, a little town at the +southeastern point of Labrador, where Mr. Bradley +joined us. He had preceded us north, by rail and coasting +vessels, after watching a part of the work of outfitting +the schooner.</p> + +<p>On the morning of July 16 we left the rockbound +coast of North America and steered straight for Greenland. +In this region a dense and heavy fog almost +always lies upon the sea. Then nothing is visible but +slow-swaying gray masses, which veil all objects in a +shroud of ghostly dreariness. Through the fog can be +heard the sound of fisher-boat horns, often the very +voices of the fishermen themselves, while their crafts +are absolutely hidden from view. On this trip, however, +from time to time, great fragments of fog slowly +lifted, and we saw, emerging out of the gray mistiness, +islands, bleak and black and weathertorn, and patches +of ocean dotted with scores of Newfoundland boats, +which invade this region to fish for cod. We entered +the Arctic current, and breasting its stream, a fancy +came that perhaps this current, flowing down from out +of the mysterious unknown, came from the very Pole +itself.</p> + +<p>Continuing, we entered Davis Straits, where we +encountered headwinds that piled up the water in great +waves. It was a good test of the sailing qualities of the +<i>Bradley</i>, and well did the small craft respond.</p> + +<p>Long before the actual coast line of Greenland +could be seen we had a first glimpse of the beauties that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +these northern regions can show. Like great sapphires, +blue ice floated in a golden sea; towering masses of +crystal rose gloriously, dazzling the eye and gladdening +the heart with their superb beauty. The schooner +sailed into this wonderful yellow sea, which soon became +a broad and gleaming surface of molten silver. Although +this striking beauty of the North, which it often +is so chary of displaying, possesses a splendor of color +equal to the gloriousness of tropical seas, it always +impresses one with a steely hardness of quality suggestive +of the steely hardness of the heart of the North. +And it somehow seemed, curiously enough, as if all this +wonderful glitter was a shimmering reflection from the +ice-covered mountains of the Greenland interior, although +the mountains themselves were still invisible.</p> + +<p>We swung from side to side, dodging icebergs. +We steered cautiously around low-floating masses, +watching to see that the keel was not caught by some +treacherous jutting spur just beneath the water-line. +Through this fairyland of light and color we sailed +slowly into a region rich in animal life, a curious and +striking sight. Seals floundered in the sunbeams or +slumbered on masses of ice, for even in this Northland +there is a strange commingling and contrast of heat +and cold. Gulls and petrels darted and fluttered about +us in every direction, porpoises were making swift and +curving leaps, even a few whales added to the magic +and apparent unreality of it all.</p> + +<p>At length the coast showed dimly upon the horizon, +veiled in a glow of purple and gold. The wind freshened, +the sails filled, and the speed of the schooner increased. +We were gradually nearing Holsteinborg,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +and the course was set a point more in towards shore. +The land was thrown into bold relief by the brilliancy +of lights and shadows, and in the remarkably clear air +it seemed as if it could be reached in an hour. But this +was an atmospheric deception, of the kind familiar to +those who know the pure air of the Rocky Mountains, +for, although the land seemed near, it was at least forty +miles away. The general color of the land was a frosty +blue, and there were deep valleys to be seen, gashes cut +by the slow movement of centuries of glaciers, with +rocky headlands leaping forward, bleak and cold. It +appeared to be a land of sublime desolation.</p> + +<p>The course was set still another point nearer the +coast; the wind continued fair and strong; and, with +every possible stitch of canvas spread, the schooner +went rapidly onward.</p> + +<p>We saw rocky islands, drenched by clouds of spray +and battered by drifting masses of ice. There the eider +duck builds its nest and spends the brief summer of +the Arctic. We saw dismal cliffs, terra cotta and buff +in color, in the crevasses of which millions of birds made +their homes, and from which they rose, frightened, in +dense clouds, giving vent to a great volume of +clamorous hoarseness.</p> + +<p>Through our glasses we could see a surprising +sight in such a land—little patches of vegetation, seal +brown or even emerald green. Yet, so slight were these +patches of green that one could not but wonder what +freak of imagination led the piratical Eric the Red, one +thousand years ago, to give to this coast a name so suggestive +of luxuriant forests and shrubs and general +lushness of growth as "Greenland." Never, surely, was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +there a greater misnomer, unless one chooses to regard +the old-time Eric as a practical joker.</p> + +<p>Between the tall headlands there were fiords cutting +far into the interior; arms of the sea, these, winding +and twisting back for miles. Along these quiet land-locked +waters the Eskimos love to hunt and fish, just as +their forefathers have done for centuries. Shaggy looking +fellows are these Eskimos, clothed in the skins of +animals, relieved by dashes of color of Danish fabric, +most of them still using spears, and thus, to outward +appearance, in the arts of life almost like those that +Eric saw.</p> + +<p>Although this rugged coast, with its low-lying +islands, its icebergs and floating icefields, its bleak headlands, +its picturesque scenes of animal life, is a continuous +delight, it presents the worst possible dangers to +navigation, not only from reefs and under-water ice, +but because there are no lighthouses to mark permanent +danger spots and because signs of impending storm are +ever on the horizon. While navigating the coast, our +officers spent sleepless nights of anxiety; but the shortening +of the nights and lengthening of the days, the +daily night brightening resulting from the northerly +movement, combined with an occasional flash of the +aurora, gradually relieved the tension of the situation.</p> + +<p>By the time the island of Disco rose splendidly +out of the northern blue, the Arctic Circle had been +crossed, and a sort of celestial light-house brightened +the path of the schooner. Remaining on deck until +after midnight, we were rewarded by a sight of the +sun magnified to many times its normal size, glowing +above the rim of the frosty sea. A light wind blew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +gently from the coast, the sea ran in swells of gold, and +the sky was streaked with topaz and crimson.</p> + +<p>Bathed in an indescribable glow, the towering +sides of the greatest icebergs showed a medley of ever-changing, +iridescent colors. The jutting pinnacles of +others seemed like oriental minarets of alabaster fretted +with old gold. Here and there, as though flung by an +invisible hand from the zenith, straggled long cloud ribbons +of flossy crimson and silver. Gradually, imperially, +the sun rose higher and flushed sky and sea +with deeper orange, more burning crimson, and the +bergs into vivid ruby, chalcedony and chrysophase +walls. This suddenly-changing, kaleidoscopic whirl of +color was rendered more effective because, in its midst, +the cliffs of Disco rose frowningly, a great patch of +blackness in artistic contrast. A pearly vapor now +began to creep over the horizon, and gradually spread +over the waters, imparting a gentle and restful tone of +blue. This gradually darkened into irregular shadows; +the brilliant color glories faded away. Finally we retired +to sleep with a feeling that sailing Poleward was +merely a joyous pleasure journey over wonderful +and magic waters. This, the first glorious vision of +the midnight sun, glowed in my dreams—the augury of +success in that for which my heart yearned. The glow +never faded, and the weird lure unconsciously began to +weave its spell.</p> + +<p>Next morning, when we went on deck, the schooner +was racing eastward through heavy seas. The terraced +cliffs of Disco, relieved by freshly fallen snow, were but +a few miles off. The cry of gulls and guillemots +echoed from rock to rock. Everything was divested of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +the glory of the day before. The sun was slowly rising +among mouse-colored clouds. The bergs were of an +ugly blue, and the sea ran in gloomy lines of ebony. +Although the sea was high, there was little wind, but we +felt that a storm was gathering and sought to hasten +to shelter in Godhaven—a name which speaks eloquently +of the dangers of this coast and the precious +value of such a harbor.</p> + +<p>As we entered the narrow channel, which turns +among low, polished rocks and opens into the harbor, +two Eskimos in kayaks came out to act as pilots. Taking +them aboard, we soon found a snug anchorage, +secure from wind and sea. The launch was lowered, +and in it we left the schooner for a visit to the Governor.</p> + +<p>Coming up to a little pier, we were cordially +greeted by Governor Fenker, who escorted us to his +home, where his wife, a cultivated young Danish +woman, offered us sincere hospitality.</p> + +<p>The little town itself was keenly alive. All the +inhabitants, and all the dogs as well, were jumping +about on the rocks, eagerly gazing at our schooner. +The houses of the Governor and the Inspector were the +most important of the town. They were built of wood +imported from Denmark, and were covered with tarred +paper. Though quite moderate in size, the houses +seemed too large and out of place in their setting of +ice-polished rocks. Beyond them were twenty Eskimo +huts, nearly square in shape, constructed of wood and +stone, the cracks of which were filled tightly with moss.</p> + +<p>We deferred our visit to the native huts, and invited +Governor Fenker and his wife to dine aboard the +schooner. The surprise of the evening for these two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +guests was the playing of our phonograph, the tunes of +which brought tears of homesickness to the eyes of the +Governor's gentle wife.</p> + +<p>Anywhere on the coast of Greenland, the coming +of a ship is always one of the prime events of the season. +So uneventful is life in these out-of-the-way places that +such an arrival is the greatest possible social enlivener. +The instant that the approach of our schooner had been +noted, the Eskimo girls—queer little maids in queer +little trousers—decided upon having a dance, and word +was brought us that everyone was invited to take part. +The sailors eagerly responded, and tumbled ashore as +soon as they were permitted, leaving merely enough for +a watch on board ship. Then, to the sound of savage +music, the dance was continued until long after midnight. +A curious kind of midnight dance it was, with +the sun brightly shining in a night unveiled of glitter +and color glory. The sailors certainly found pleasure +in whirling about, their arms encircling fat and clumsy +waists. They did admit, however, when back on board +the schooner, that the smell of the furs within which the +maidens had spent the past winter was less agreeable +than the savor of fish. The name of this scattered settlement +of huts, Godhaven, comes, clearly enough, from +its offering fortunate refuge from storms; that the +place is also known as Lively is not in the least to be +wondered at, if one has watched a midnight dance of the +little population and their visitors.</p> + +<p>Before hauling in anchor in the harbor of Godhaven, +we made some necessary repairs to the yacht and +filled our tanks with water. With a free wind speeding +onward to the west of Disco, we passed the narrow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +strait known as the Vaigat early the following morning. +As I stood on deck and viewed the passing of icebergs, +glittering in the limpid, silvery light of morning like +monstrous diamonds, there began to grow within me a +feeling—that throbbed in pulsation with the onward +movement of the boat—that every minute, every mile, +meant a nearing to that mysterious center, on the attaining +of which I had set my heart, and which, even +now, seemed unlikely, improbable. Yet the thought +gave me a thrill.</p> + +<p>Before noon we reached the mouth of Umanak +Fiord, into the delightful waters of which we were +tempted to enter. The lure of the farther North decided +us against this, and soon the striking Svarten +Huk (Black Hook), a great rock cliff, loomed upon +the horizon. Beyond it, gradually appeared a long chain +of those islands among which lies Upernavik, where the +last traces of civilized or semi-civilized life are found. +The wind increased in force but the horizon remained +remarkably clear. Over a bounding sea we sped rapidly +along to the west, into the labyrinth of islands that are +sprinkled along the southern shore of Melville Bay.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> +Beyond, we were to come into the true boreal wilder<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>ness +of ice, where there were only a few savage +aborigines, its sole inhabitants.</p> + +<p>On the following day, with reduced sail and the +help of the auxiliary engine, we pushed far up into +Melville Bay, where we ran into fields of pack-ice. +Here we decided to hunt for game. With this purpose +it was necessary to keep close to land. Here also +came our first realistic experience with the great forces +of the North. The pack-ice floated close around us, +young ice cemented the broken masses together, and +for several days we were thus closely imprisoned in +frozen seas.</p> + +<p>These days of enforced delay were days of great +pleasure, for the bears and seals on the ice afforded +considerable sport. The constant danger of our position, +however, required a close watch for the safety of the +schooner. The Devil's Thumb, a high rock shaped like +a dark thumb pointing at the sky, loomed darkly +and beckoningly before us. A biting wind descended +from the interior.</p> + +<p>The ice groaned; the eiderducks, guillemots and +gulls uttered shrill and disturbing cries, seemingly sensing +the coming of a storm.</p> + +<p>For three days we were held in the grip of the relentless +pack; then the glimmer of the land ice changed +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>to an ugly gray, the pack around us began to crack +threateningly, and the sky darkened to the southward.</p> + +<p>The wind ominously died away. The air thickened +rapidly. A general feeling of anxiety came over us, +although my familiarity with storms in the North made +it possible for me to explain that heavy seas are seldom +felt within the zone of a large ice-pack, for the reason +that the icebergs, the flat ice masses, and even the small +floating fragments, ordinarily hold down the swells. +Even when the pack begins to break, the lanes of water +between the fragments thicken under the lower temperature +like an oiled surface, and offer an easy sea. +Furthermore, a really severe wind would be sure to release +the schooner, and it would then be possible to trust +it to its staunch qualities in free water.</p> + +<p>Hardly had we finished dinner when we heard the +sound of a brisk wind rushing through the rigging. +Hurrying to the deck, we saw coils of what looked like +smoky vapor rising in the south as if belched from some +great volcano. The gloom on the horizon was rapidly +growing deeper. The sound of the wind changed to a +threatening, sinister hiss. In the piercing steel-gray +light we saw the ice heave awesomely, like moving hills, +above the blackening water. The bergs swayed and +rocked, and the massed ice gave forth strange, troublous +sounds.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a channel began to open through the ice +in front of us. The trisail was quickly set, the other +sails being left tightly furled, and with the engine helping +to push us in the desired direction, we drew deep +breaths of relief as we moved out into the free water +to the westward.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + +<p>We felt a sense of safety now, although, clear of the +ice, the sea rose about us with a sickening suddenness. +Black as night, the water seemed far more dangerous +because the waves were everywhere dashing angrily +against walls of ice. Already strong, the wind veered +slightly and increased to a fierce, persistent gale. Like +rubber balls, the bergs bounded and rolled in the sea. +The sound of the storm was now a thunder suggestive +of constantly exploding cannons. But, fortunately, we +were snug aboard, and, keeping the westerly course, +soon escaped the dangers of ensnaring ice.</p> + +<p>We were still in a heavy storm, and had we not +had full confidence in the ship, built as she was to withstand +the storms of the Grand Banks, we should still +have felt anxiety, for the schooner rolled and pitched +and the masts dipped from side to side until they almost +touched the water.</p> + +<p>Icy water swept the deck. A rain began to fall, +and quickly sheathed the masts and ropes in ice. Snow +followed, giving a surface as of sandpaper to the slippery, +icy decks. The temperature was not low, but the +cutting wind pierced one to the very marrow. Our +men were drenched with spray and heavily coated with +ice. Although suffering severely, the sailors maintained +their courage and appeared even abnormally happy. +Gradually we progressed into the open sea. In the +course of four hours the storm began to abate, and, under +a double-reefed foresail, at last we gleefully rode +out the finish of the storm in safety.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE DRIVING SPUR OF THE POLAR +QUEST</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">ON THE FRIGID PATHWAY OF THREE CENTURIES OF +HEROIC MARTYRS—MEETING THE STRANGE PEOPLE +OF THE FARTHEST NORTH—THE LIFE OF THE STONE +AGE—ON THE CHASE WITH THE ESKIMOS—MANEE +AND SPARTAN ESKIMO COURAGE</p> + +<h3>III<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">Strange Traits of Northernmost Man</span></h3> + + +<p>I have often wondered of late about the dazzling +white, eerie glamor with which the Northland weaves +its spell about the heart of a man. I know of nothing +on earth so strange, so wonderful, withal so sad. Pursuing +our course through Melville Bay, I felt the fatal +magic of it enthralling my very soul. For hours I +stood on deck alone, the midnight sun, like some +monstrous perpetual light to some implacable frozen-hearted +deity, burning blindingly upon the horizon and +setting the sea aflame. The golden colors suffused my +mind, and I swam in a sea of molten glitter.</p> + +<p>I was consumed for hours by but one yearning—a +yearning that filled and intoxicated me—to go on, +and on, and ever onward, where no man had ever been. +Perhaps it is the human desire to excel others, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +prove, because of the innate egotism of the human unit, +that one possesses qualities of brain and muscle which +no other possesses, that has crazed men to perform this, +the most difficult physical test in the world. The +lure of the thing is unexplainable.</p> + +<p>During those dizzy hours on deck I thought of +those who had preceded me; of heroic men who for three +centuries had braved suffering, cold and famine, who +had sacrificed the comforts of civilization, their families +and friends, who had given their own lives in the pursuit +of this mysterious, yea, fruitless quest. I remembered +reading the thrilling tales of those who returned—tales +which had flushed me with excitement +and inspired me with the same mad ambition. I +thought of the noble, indefatigable efforts of these men, +of the heart-sickening failures, in which I too had +shared. And I felt the indomitable, swift surge of +their awful, goading determination within me—to subdue +the forces of nature, to cover as Icarus did the air +those icy spaces, to reach the silver-shining vacantness +which men called the North Pole.</p> + +<p>As we cut the shimmering waters, I felt, as it were, +the wierd, unseen presence of those who had died there—died +horribly—men whose bodies had withered, with +slow suffering, in frigid blasts and famine, who possibly +had prolonged their suffering by feeding upon their own +doomed companions—and of others who had perished +swiftly in the sudden yawning of the leprous white +mouth of the hungry frozen sea. It is said by some that +souls live only after death by the energy of great emotions, +great loves, or great ambitions generated throughout +life. It seemed to me, in those hours of intoxica<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>tion, +that I could feel the implacable, unsatisfied desire +of these disembodied things, who had vibrated with one +aim and still yearned in the spirit for what now they +were physically unable to attain. It seemed that my +brain was fired with the intensity of all these dead men's +ambition, that my heart in sympathy beat more turbulently +with the throb of their dead hearts; I felt growing +within me, irresistibly, what I did not dare, for fear +it might not be possible, to confide to Bradley—a determination, +even in the face of peril, to essay the Pole!</p> + +<p>From this time onward, and until I turned my +back upon the fruitless silver-shining place of desolation +at the apex of the world, I felt the intoxication, +the intangible lure of the thing exhilarating, buoying +me gladsomely, beating in my heart with a singing +rhythm. I recall it now with marveling, and am filled +with the pathos of it. Yet, despite all that I have +suffered since because of it, I regret not those enraptured +hours of perpetual glitter of midnight suns.</p> + +<p>One morning we reached the northern shore of +Melville Bay, and the bold cliffs of Cape York were +dimly outlined through a gray mist. Strong southern +winds had carried such great masses of ice against the +coast that it was impossible to make a near approach, +and as a strong wind continued, there was such a heavy +sea along the bobbing line of outer ice as to make it +quite impossible to land and thence proceed toward +the shore.</p> + +<p>We were desirous of meeting the natives of Cape +York, but these ice conditions forced us to proceed +without touching here, and so we set our course for the +next of the northernmost villages, at North Star Bay.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +By noon the mist had vanished, and we saw clearly the +steep slopes and warm color of crimson cliffs rising precipitously +out of the water. The coast line is about two +thousand feet high, evidently the remains of an old +tableland which extends a considerable distance northward. +Here and there were short glaciers which had +worn the cliffs away in their ceaseless effort to reach +the sea. The air was full of countless gulls, guillemots, +little auks and eider-ducks.</p> + +<p>As the eye followed the long and lofty line of +crimson cliffs, there came into sight a towering, conical +rock, a well-known guidepost for the navigator. Continuing, +we caught sight of the long ice wall of Petowik +Glacier, and behind this, extending far to the eastward, +the scintillating, white expanse of the overland-ice which +blankets the interior of all Greenland.</p> + +<p>The small and widely scattered villages of the +Eskimos of this region are hemmed in by the ice walls +of Melville Bay on the southward, the stupendous +cliffs of Humboldt Glacier on the north, an arm of the +sea to the westward, and the hopelessly desolate Greenland +interior toward the east.</p> + +<p>There is really no reason why many Eskimos +should not live here, for there is abundant food in both +sea and air, and even considerable game on land. Blue +and white foxes are everywhere to be seen. There is +the seal, the walrus, the narwhal, and the white whale. +There is the white bear, monarch of the Polar wilds, +who roams in every direction over his kingdom. The +principal reason why the population remains so small +lies in the hazardous conditions of life. Children are +highly prized, and a marriageable woman or girl who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +has one or more of them is much more valuable as a +match than one who is childless.</p> + +<p>The coast line here is paradoxically curious, for +although the coast exceeds but barely more than two +hundred miles of latitude it presents in reality a sea +line of about four thousand miles when the great indentations +of Wolstenholm Sound, Inglefield Gulf, +and other bays, sounds and fiords are measured.</p> + +<p>We sailed cautiously now about Cape Atholl, +which we were to circle; a fog lay upon the waters, +almost entirely hiding the innumerable icebergs, and +making it difficult to pick our course among the dangerous +rocks in this vicinity.</p> + +<p>Rounding Cape Atholl, we sailed into Wolstenholm +Sound and turned our prow toward the Eskimo +village on North Star Bay.</p> + +<p>North Star Bay is guarded by a promontory expressively +named Table Mountain, "Oomanaq." As +we neared this headland, many natives came out in +kayaks to meet us. Inasmuch as I knew most of them +personally, I felt a singular thrill of pleasure in seeing +them. Years before, I learned their simple-hearted +faithfulness. Knud Rasmussen, a Danish writer, living +as a native among the Eskimos, apparently for the +sake of getting local color, was in one of the canoes +and came aboard the ship.</p> + +<p>As it was necessary to make slight repairs to the +schooner, we here had to follow the primitive method of +docking by preliminary beaching her. This was done at +high tide when the propeller, which had been bent—the +principal damage to the ship—was straightened. At +the same time we gave the yacht a general looking-over,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +and righted a universal joint whose loosening had disabled +the engine.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the launch kept busy scurrying to and +fro, our quest being occasionally rewarded with eider-ducks +or other game. Late at night, a visit was made +to the village of Oomanooi. It could hardly be called +a village, for it consisted merely of seven triangular +sealskin tents, conveniently placed on picturesque rocks. +Gathered about these in large numbers, were men, +women and children, shivering in the midnight chill.</p> + +<p>These were odd-looking specimens of humanity. +In height, the men averaged but five feet, two inches, +and the women four feet, ten. All had broad, fat faces, +heavy bodies and well-rounded limbs. Their skin was +slightly bronzed; both men and women had coal-black +hair and brown eyes. Their noses were short, and their +hands and feet short, but thick.</p> + +<p>A genial woman was found at every tent opening, +ready to receive visitors in due form. We entered and +had a short chat with each family. Subjects of conversation +were necessarily limited, but after all, they +were about the same as they would have been in a +civilized region. We conversed as to whether or not all +of us had been well, of deaths, marriages and births. +Then we talked of the luck of the chase, which meant +prosperity or need of food. Even had it been a civilized +community, there would have been little questioning regarding +national or international affairs, because, in +such case, everyone reads the papers. Here there +was no comment on such subjects simply because +nobody cares anything about them or has any papers +to read.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> + +<p>That a prominent Eskimo named My-ah had disposed +of a few surplus wives to gain the means whereby +to acquire a few more dogs, was probably the most +important single item of information conveyed. I was +also informed that at the present time there happened +to be only one other man with two wives.</p> + +<p>Marriage, among these folk, is a rather free and +easy institution. It is, indeed, not much more than a +temporary tie of possession. Men exchange partners +with each other much in the manner that men in other +countries swap horses. And yet, the position of women +is not so humble as this custom might seem to indicate, +for they themselves are permitted, not infrequently, to +choose new partners. These exceedingly primitive +ideas work out surprisingly well in practice in these +isolated regions, for such exchanges, when made, are +seemingly to the advantage and satisfaction of all +parties; no regrets are expressed, and the feuds of +divorce courts, of alimony proceedings, of damages for +alienation of affection, which prevail in so-called civilization, +are unknown.</p> + +<p>It is certainly a curious thing that these simple +but intelligent people are able to control their own +destinies with a comfortable degree of success, although +they are without laws or literature and without any +fixed custom to regulate the matrimonial bond.</p> + +<p>It would seem as if there ought to be a large population, +for there is an average of about three fat, clever +children for each family, the youngest as a rule picturesquely +resting in a pocket on the mother's back. But +the hardships of life in this region are such that accidents +and deaths keep down the population.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<p>Each tent has a raised platform, upon which all +sleep. The edge of this makes a seat, and on each +side are placed stone lamps in which blubber is burned, +with moss as a wick. Over this is a drying rack, also a +few sticks, but there is no other furniture. Their dress +of furs gives the Eskimos a look of savage fierceness +which their kindly faces and easy temperament do not +warrant.</p> + +<p>On board the yacht were busy days of barter. Furs +and ivory were gathered in heaps in exchange for guns, +knives and needles. Every seaman, from cabin boy to +captain, suddenly got rich in the gamble of trade for +prized blue-fox skins and narwhal tusks.</p> + +<p>The Eskimos were equally elated with their part +of the bargain. For a beautiful fox skin, of less use to +a native than a dog pelt, he could secure a pocket knife +that would serve him half a lifetime!</p> + +<p>A woman exchanged her fur pants, worth a hundred +dollars, for a red pocket handkerchief with which +she would decorate her head or her igloo for years +to come.</p> + +<p>Another gave her bearskin mits for a few needles, +and she conveyed the idea that she had the long end +of the trade! A fat youth with a fatuous smile displayed +with glee two bright tin cups, one for himself +and one for his prospective bride. He was positively +happy in having obtained nine cents' worth of tin for +only an ivory tusk worth ninety dollars!</p> + +<p>With the coming of the midnight tide we lifted +the schooner to an even keel from the makeshift dry-dock +on the beach. She was then towed out into the +bay by the launch and two dories, and anchored.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> + +<p>Our first walrus adventures began in Wolstenholm +Sound during the beautiful nightless days of mid-August. +The local environment was fascinating. The +schooner was anchored in North Star Bay, a lake of +glitter in which wild men in skin canoes darted after +seals and eider-ducks. On grassy shores were sealskin +tents, about which fur-clad women and children vied +with wolf-dogs for favorite positions to see the queer +doings of white men. A remarkable landmark made the +place conspicuous. A great table-topped rock rose suddenly +out of a low foreland to an altitude of about six +hundred feet. About this giant cliff, gulls, guillemots +and ravens talked and winged uproariously. The rock +bore the native name of Oomanaq. With the unique +Eskimo manner of name-coining, the village was called +Oomanooi.</p> + +<p>Wolstenholm Sound is a large land-locked body of +water, with arms reaching to the narrow gorges of the +overland sea of ice, from which icebergs tumble ceaslessly. +The sparkling water reflected the surroundings +in many shades of blue and brown, relieved by strong +contrasts of white and black. On the western sky line +were the chiseled walls of Acponie and other islands, +and beyond a steel-gray mist in which was wrapped the +frozen sea of the Polar gateway. Fleets of icebergs +moved to and fro, dragging tails of drift bejeweled +with blue crystal.</p> + +<p>Far out—ten miles from our outlook—there was +a meeting of the currents. Here, small pieces of sea-ice +slowly circled in an eddy, and upon them were herds +of walruses. We did not see them, but their shrill voices +rang through the icy air like a wireless message. This<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +was a call to action which Mr. Bradley could not resist, +and preparations were begun for the combat.</p> + +<p>The motor boat—the most important factor in the +chase—had been especially built for just such an encounter. +Covered with a folding whale-back top entirely +painted white to resemble ice, we had hoped to +hunt walrus under suitable Arctic cover.</p> + +<p>Taking a white dory in tow, two Eskimo harpooners +were invited to follow. The natives in kayaks soon +discovered to their surprise that their best speed was not +equal to ours—for the first time they were beaten in +their own element. For ages the Eskimos had rested +secure in the belief that the kayak was the fastest thing +afloat. They had been beaten by big ships, of course, +but these had spiritual wings and did not count in the +race of man's craft. This little launch, however, with +its rapid-fire gas explosions, made their eyes bulge to +a wondering, wide-open, seal-like curiosity. They +begged to be taken aboard to watch the loading of the +engines; they thought we fed it with cartridges.</p> + +<p>After a delightful run of an hour, a pan of ice +was sighted with black hummocks on it. "<i>Ahwek!</i> +<i>Ahwek!</i>" the Eskimos shouted. A similar sound floated +over the oily waters from many walrus throats. The +walruses were about three miles to the southwest. At a +slower speed we advanced two miles more. In the +meantime Mr. Bradley cleared the deck for action. The +direction of the hunting tactics was now turned over +to My-ah. The mate was at the wheel. I pushed the +levers of the gasoline kicker. Our line of attack was +ordered at right angles to the wind. As we neared the +game, the engines were stopped.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<p>Looking through glasses, the sight of the gregarious +herd made our hearts quicken. They were all +males of tremendous size, with glistening tusks with +which they horned one another in efforts for favorable +positions. Some were asleep, others basked in the sun +with heads turning lazily from side to side. Now and +then, they uttered sleepy, low grunts. They were +quivering in a gluttonous slumber, while the organs piled +up their bank account of fat to pay the costs of the +gamble of the coming winter night.</p> + +<p>With muffled paddles the launch was now silently +propelled forward, while the kayaks stealthily advanced +to deliver the harpoons. The Eskimo reason +for this mode of procedure is based on a careful study +of the walrus' habits. Its nose in sleep is always +pointed windwards. Its ears are at all times sensitive +to noises from every direction, while the eyes during +wakeful moments sweep the horizon. But its horizon +is very narrow. Only the nose and the ear sense the +distant alarm. We advanced very slowly and cautiously, +and that only when all heads were down. Our boat +slowly got within three hundred yards of the herd. Preparing +their implements to strike, the Eskimos had advanced +to within fifty feet. The moment was tense. +Of a sudden, a tumultuous floundering sound smote the +air. The sleeping creatures awoke, and with a start +leaped into the sea. Turning their kayaks, the Eskimos +paddled a wild retreat and sought the security of the +launch. The sport of that herd was lost to us. Although +they darted about under water in a threatening +manner, they only rose to the surface at a safe distance.</p> + +<p>Scanning the surroundings with our glasses, about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +two miles to the south another group was sighted. +This time Bradley, as the chief nimrod, assumed direction. +The kayaks and the Eskimos were placed in the +dory. Tactics were reversed. Instead of creeping up +slowly, a sudden rush was planned. No heed was taken +of noise or wind. The carburetor was opened, the spark +lever of the magneto was advanced to its limit, and we +shot through the waters like a torpedo boat. As we +neared the herd, the dory, with its Eskimos, was freed +from the launch. The Eskimos were given no instructions, +and they wisely chose to keep out of the battle.</p> + +<p>As we got to within two hundred yards, the canvas +top of the launch fell and a heavy gun bombardment +began. The walruses had not had time to wake; the suddenness +of the onslaught completely dazed them. One +after another dropped his ponderous head with a +sudden jerk as a prize to the marksmen, while the +launch, at reduced speed, encircled the walrus-encumbered +pan. Few escaped. There were heads and meat +and skins enough to satisfy all wants for a long time +to follow. But the game was too easy—the advantage +of an up-to-date sportsman had been carried to its +highest degree of perfection. It was otherwise, however, +in the walrus battles that followed later—battles +on the success of which depended the possibility of my +being able to assail the northern ice desert, in an effort +to reach the Polar goal.</p> + +<p>Oomanooi was but one of six villages among which +the tribe had divided its two hundred and fifty people +for the current season. To study these interesting folk, +to continue the traffic and barter, and to enjoy for a +short time the rare sport of sailing and hunting in this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +wild region, we decided to visit as many of the villages +as possible.</p> + +<p>In the morning the anchor was raised and we set +sail in a light wind headed for more northern villages. +It was a gray day, with a quiet sea. The speed of the +yacht was not fast enough to be exciting, so Mr. +Bradley suggested lowering the launch for a crack at +ducks, or a chase at walrus or a drive at anything that +happened to cut the waters. His harpoon gun was +taken, as it was hoped that a whale might come our +way, but the gun proved unsatisfactory and did not +contribute much to our sport. In the fleet launch we +were able to run all around the schooner as she slowly +sailed over Wolstenholm Sound.</p> + +<p>Ducks were secured in abundance. Seals were +given chase, but they were able to escape us. Nearing +Saunders Island, a herd of walruses was seen on a pan of +drift ice far ahead. The magneto was pushed, the +carburetor opened, and out we rushed after the shouting +beasts. Two, with splendid tusks, were obtained, +and two tons of meat and blubber were turned over to +our Eskimo allies.</p> + +<p>The days of hunting proved quite strenuous, and in +the evening we were glad to seek the comfort of our +cosy cabin, after dining on eider-ducks and other game +delicacies.</p> + +<p>A few Eskimos had asked permission to accompany +us to a point farther north. Among them was a +widow, to whom, for herself and her children, we had +offered a large bed, with straw in it, between decks, but +which, savage as she was, she had refused, saying she +preferred the open air on deck. There she arranged a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +den among the anchor chains, under a shelter of seal +skins.</p> + +<p>In tears, she told us the story of her life, a story +which offered a peep into the tragedy and at the same +time the essential comedy of Eskimo existence. It +came in response to a question from me as to how the +world had used her, for I had known her years before. +At my simple question, she buried her face in her hands +and for a time could only mutter rapidly and unintelligibly +to her two little boys. Then, between sobs, +she told me her story.</p> + +<p>Ma-nee—such was her name—was a descendant of +the Eskimos of the American side. A foreign belle, +and, although thin, fair to look upon, as Eskimo beauty +goes, her hand was sought early by the ardent youths +of the tribe, who, truth to tell, look upon utility as more +desirable than beauty in a wife. The heart of Ma-nee +throbbed to the pleadings of one Ik-wa, a youth lithe +and brave, with brawn and sinews as resilient as rubber +and strong as steel, handsome, dark, with flashing eyes, +yet with a heart as cruel as the relentless wind and cold +sea of the North. Ma-nee married Ik-wa and bore to +him several children. These, which meant wealth of the +most valuable kind (children even exceeding in value +dogs, tusks and skins), meant the attainment of Ik-wa's +selfish purpose. Ma-nee was fair, but her hands were +not adroit with the needle, nor was she fair in the +plump fashion desirable in wives.</p> + +<p>Ik-wa met Ah-tah, a good seamstress, capable of +much toil, not beautiful, but round and plump. Whereupon, +Ik-wa took Ah-tah to wife, and leading Ma-nee to +the door of their igloo, ordered her to leave. Cruel as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +can be these natives, they also possess a persistence and +a tenderness that manifest themselves in strange, +dramatic ways. Ma-nee, disconsolate but brave, departed. +There being at the time a scarcity of marriageable +women in the village, Ma-nee was soon wooed by +another, an aged Eskimo, whose muscles had begun to +wither, whose eyes no longer flashed as did Ik-wa's, +but whose heart was kind. To him Ma-nee bore two +children, those which she had with her on deck. To +them, unfortunately, descended the heritage of their +father's frailities; one—now eight—being the only deaf +and dumb Eskimo in all the land; the other, the +younger, aged three, a weakling with a pinched and +pallid face and thin, gaunt arms. Ma-nee's husband +was not a good hunter, for age and cold had sapped his +vigor. Their home was peaceful if not prosperous; the +two loved one another, and, because of their defects, +Ma-nee grew to love her little ones unwontedly.</p> + +<p>Just before the beginning of the long winter night, +the old father, anxious to provide food and deer skins +for the coming months of continuous darkness, ventured +alone in search of game among the mountains +of the interior. Day after day, while the gloom descended, +Ma-nee, dry eyed waited. The aged father +never came back. Returning hunters finally brought +news that he had perished alone, from a gun accident, in +the icy wilderness, and they had found him, his frozen, +mummied face peeping anxiously from the mantle of +snow. Ma-nee wept broken-heartedly.</p> + +<p>Ma-nee gazed into the faces of the two children +with a wild, tragic wistfulness. By the stern and inviolable +law of the Eskimos, Ma-nee knew her two be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>loved +ones were condemned to die. In this land, where +food is at a premium, and where every helpless and dependent +life means a sensible drain upon the tribe's +resources, they have evolved that Spartan law which +results in the survival of only the fittest. The one child, +because of its insufficient senses, the other because it +was still on its mother's back and under three at the +time its father died, and with no father to support +them, were doomed. Kind-hearted as the Eskimos +naturally are, they can at times, in the working out of +that code which means continued existence, be terribly +brutal. Their fierce struggle with the elements for +very existence has developed in them an elemental +fierceness. From probable experience in long-past +losses of life from contagion, they instinctively destroy +every igloo in which a native dies, or, at times, to save +the igloo, they heartlessly seize the dying, and dragging +him through the low door, cast him, ere breath has +ceased, into the life-stilling outer world.</p> + +<p>This inviolable custom of ages Ma-nee, with a +Spartan courage, determined to break. During the +long night which had just passed, friends had been kind +to Ma-nee, but now that she was defying Eskimo +usage, she could expect no assistance. Brutal as he +had been to her, hopeless as seemed such prospects, +Ma-nee thought of the cruel Ik-wa and determined to +go to him, with the two defective children of her second +husband, beg him to accept them as his own and to take +her, as a secondary wife, a servant—a position of +humiliation and hard labor. In this determination, +which can be appreciated only by those who know how +implacable and heartless the natives can be, Ma-nee was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +showing one of their marvellous traits, that indomitable +courage, persistence and dogged hopefulness which, in +my two later companions, E-tuk-i-shook and Ah-we-lah, +enabled them, with me, to reach the Pole.</p> + +<p>I admired the spirit of Ma-nee, and promised to +help her, although the mission of reuniting the two +seemed dubious.</p> + +<p>Ma-nee was not going to Ik-wa entirely empty-handed, +however, for she possessed some positive wealth +in the shape of several dogs, and three bundles of skins +and sticks which comprised her household furniture.</p> + +<p>We soon reached the village where Ma-nee was to +be put ashore. Very humbly, the heroic mother and +her two frail children went to Ik-wa's tent. Ik-wa +was absent hunting, and his wife, who had supplanted +Ma-nee, a fat, unsociable creature, appeared. Weeping, +Ma-nee told of her plight and begged for shelter. +The woman stolidly listened; then, without a word, +turned her back on the forlorn mother and entered her +tent. For the unintentional part we had played she +gave us exceedingly cold, frowning looks which were +quite expressive.</p> + +<p>Ma-nee now went to the other villagers. They listened +to her plans, and their primitive faces lighted +with sympathy. I soon saw them serving a pot of steaming +oil meat in her honor—a feast in which we were +urgently invited to partake, but which we, fortunately, +found some good excuse for avoiding. Although she had +violated a custom of the tribe, these people, both stern-hearted +and tender, recognized the greatness of a +mother-love which had braved an unwritten law of ages, +and they took her in. Several months later, on a return<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +to the village, I saw Ik-wa himself. Although he did not +thank me for the unwitting part I had played in their +reunion, he had taken Ma-nee back, and near his own +house was a new igloo in which the mother lived with her +children.</p> + +<p>Resuming our journey, a snow squall soon frosted +the deck of the yacht, and to escape the icy air we retired +early to our berths. During the night the speed of the +yacht increased, and when we appeared on deck again, +at four o'clock in the morning, the rays of the August +sun seemed actually warm.</p> + +<p>We passed the ice-battered and storm-swept cliffs +of Cape Parry and entered Whale Sound. On a sea of +gold, strewn with ice islands of ultramarine and alabaster, +whales spouted and walrus shouted. Large flocks +of little auks rushed rapidly by.</p> + +<p>The wind was light, but the engine took us along at +a pace just fast enough to allow us to enjoy the superb +surroundings. In the afternoon we were well into +Inglefield Gulf, and near Itiblu. There was a strong +head wind, and enough ice about to make us cautious in +our prospect.</p> + +<p>We aimed here to secure Eskimo guides and with +them seek caribou in Olrik's Bay. While the schooner +was tacking for a favorable berth in the drift off Kanga, +the launch was lowered, and we sought to interview the +Eskimos of Itiblu. The ride was a wet one, for a short, +choppy sea poured icy spray over us and tumbled us +about.</p> + +<p>There were only one woman, a few children, and +about a score of dogs at the place. The woman was a +remarkably fast talker, long out of practice. She told<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +us that her husband and the other men were absent on a +caribou hunt, and then, with a remarkably rapid articulation +and without a single question from us, plunged +incessantly on through all the news of the tribe for a +year. After gasping for breath like a smothered seal, +she then began with news of previous years and a history +of forgotten ages. We started back for the launch, +and she invited herself to the pleasure of our company +to the beach.</p> + +<p>We had gone only a few steps before it occurred to +her that she was in need of something. Would we not +get her a few boxes of matches in exchange for a narwhal +tusk? We should be delighted, and a handful of sweets +went with the bargain. Her boy brought down two +ivory tusks, each eight feet in length, the two being +worth one hundred and fifty dollars. Had we a knife +to spare? Yes; and a tin spoon was also given, just to +show that we were liberal.</p> + +<p>The yacht was headed northward, across Inglefield +Gulf. With a fair wind, we cut tumbling seas of ebony +with a racing dash. Though the wind was strong, the +air was remarkably clear.</p> + +<p>The great chiselled cliffs of Cape Auckland rose in +terraced grandeur under the midnight sun. The distance +was twelve miles, and it was twelve miles of submerged +rocks and shallow water.</p> + +<p>It was necessary to give Karnah a wide berth. +There were bergs enough about to hold the water down, +though an occasional sea rose with a sickening thump. +At Karnah we went ashore. There was not a man in +town, all being absent on a distant hunting campaign. +But, though there were no men, the place was far from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +being deserted, for five women, fifteen children and +forty-five dogs came out to meet us.</p> + +<p>Here we saw five sealskin tents pitched among the +bowlders of a glacial stream. An immense quantity of +narwhal meat was lying on the rocks and stones to dry. +Skins were stretched on the grass, and a general air of +thrift was evidenced about the place. Bundles of seal-skins, +packages of pelts and much ivory were brought +out to trade and establish friendly intercourse. We +gave the natives sugar, tobacco and ammunition in +quantities to suit their own estimate of value.</p> + +<p>Would we not place ourselves at ease and stay for +a day or two, as their husbands would soon return? We +were forced to decline their hospitality, for without the +harbor there was too much wind to keep the schooner +waiting. Eskimos have no salutation except a greeting +smile or a parting look of regret. We got both at the +same time as we stepped into the launch and shouted +good-bye.</p> + +<p>The captain was told to proceed to Cape Robertson. +The wind eased, and a descending fog soon blotted +out part of the landscape, horizon and sky. It hung +like a gray pall a thousand feet above us, leaving the air +below this bright and startlingly clear.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> +<h2>TO THE LIMITS OF NAVIGATION</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">EXCITING HUNTS FOR GAME WITH THE ESKIMOS—ARRIVAL +AT ETAH—SPEEDY TRIP TO ANNOATOK, THE +WINDY PLACE, WHERE SUPPLIES ARE FOUND IN +ABUNDANCE—EVERYTHING AUSPICIOUS FOR DASH TO +THE POLE—DETERMINATION TO ESSAY THE EFFORT—BRADLEY +INFORMED—DEBARK FOR THE POLE—THE +YACHT RETURNS</p> + +<h3>IV<br /><br /> + +<span class="smcap">Alone with Our Destiny, Seven Hundred Miles +From the Pole</span></h3> + + +<p>We awoke off Cape Robertson early on August 13, +and went ashore before breakfast. The picturesque +coast here rises suddenly to an altitude of about two +thousand feet, and is crowned with a gleaming, silver +ice cap. Large bays, blue glacial walls and prominent +headlands give a pleasing variety. It is much like the +coast of all Greenland. On its southern exposure the +eroded Huronian rocks provide shelter for millions of +little auks. They dart incessantly from cliff to sea in a +chattering cloud of wings. Rather rich and grassy verdure +offers an oasis for the Arctic hare, while the blue +fox finds life easy here, for he can fill his winter den +with the fat feathered creatures which teem by millions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Eskimos profit by the combination, and pitch +their camp at the foot of the cliffs, for the chase on sea +is nearly as good here as in other places, while land +creatures literally tumble into the larder.</p> + +<p>As we approached the shore, ten men, nine women, +thirty-one children and one hundred and six dogs came +out to meet us. I count the children and dogs for they +are equally important in Eskimo economy. The latter +are by far the most important to the average Caucasian +in the Arctic.</p> + +<p>Only small game had fallen to the Eskimos' lot, +and they were eager to venture out with us after big +game. Mr. Bradley gathered a suitable retinue of +native guides, and we were not long in arranging a +compact.</p> + +<p>Free passage, the good graces of the cook, and a +knife each were to be their pay. A caribou hunt was +not sufficiently novel to merit a return to Olrik's Bay, +where intelligent hunting is always rewarded, but it +was hoped we might get a hunt at Kookaan, near the +head of Robertson Bay.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>Although hunting in the bay was not successful +from a practical standpoint, it afforded exciting pleas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>ure +in perilous waters. Even during these hours of +sport, my mind was busy with tentative plans for a +Polar journey. Whenever I aimed my gun at a snorting +walrus, or at some white-winged Arctic bird, I felt a +thrill in the thought that upon the skill of my arms, of +my aim, and upon that of the natives we were later to +join, would depend the getting of food sufficient to enable +me to embark upon my dream. Everything I did +now began to have some bearing upon this glorious, intoxicating +prospect; it colored my life, day and night. I +realized how easily I might fail even should conditions +be favorable enough to warrant the journey; for this +reason, because of the unwelcome doubt which at times +chilled my enthusiasm, I did not yet confide to Bradley +my growing ambition.</p> + +<p>Returning to the settlement, we paid our hunting +guides, made presents to the women and children, and +set sail for Etah. An offshore breeze filled the big wings +of the canvas. As borne on the back of some great +white bird, we soared northward into a limpid molten +sea. From below came the music of our phonograph, +curiously shouting its tunes, classic and popular, in that +grim, golden region of glory and death.</p> + +<p>It is curious how ambition sets the brain on fire, +and quickens the heart throbs. As we sped over the +magical waters, the wild golden air electric about me, +I believe I felt an ecstasy of desire such as mystics +achieved from fasting and prayer. It was the surge of +an ambition which began to grow mightily within me, +which I felt no obstacle could withstand, and which, +later, I believe carried me forward with its wings of +faith when my body well nigh refused to move. We<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +passed Cape Alexander and entered Smith Sound. We +sped by storm-chiselled cliffs, whereupon the hand of +nature had written a history, unintelligible to humans, +as with a pen of iron. The sun was low. Great bergs +loomed up in the radiant distance, and reflecting silver-shimmering +halos, seemed to me as the silver-winged +ghosts of those who died in this region and who were +borne alone on the wind and air.</p> + +<p>Nature seemed to sing with exultation. Approaching +a highland of emerald green and seal brown, I heard +the wild shouting of hawks from the summit, and from +below the shrill chattering of millions of auks with baby +families. And nearer, from the life enraptured waters, +the minor note of softly cooing ducks and mating guillemots. +From the interior land of ice, rising above the +low booming of a sapphire glacier moving majestically +to the sea, rang the bark of foxes, the shrill notes of the +ptarmigan, and from an invisible farther distance the +raucous wolf howl of Eskimo dogs.</p> + +<p>Before us, at times, would come a burst of spouting +spray, and a whale would rise to the surface of the sea. +Nearby, on a floating island of ice, mother walrus would +soothingly murmur to her babies. From invisible +places came the paternal voices of the oogzook, and as +we went forward, seals, white whales and unicorns appeared, +speaking perhaps the sign language of the +animal deaf and dumb in the blue submarine.</p> + +<p>Occasionally, there was an explosion, when +thunder as from a hundred cannons echoed from cliff to +cliff. A berg was shattered to ruins. Following this +would rise the frightened voices of every animal above +water. Now and then, from ultramarine grottoes issued<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +weird, echoing sounds, and almost continually rising to +ringing peals and shuddering into silence, reiterant, incessant, +came nature's bugle-calls—calls of the wind, +of sundering glaciers, of sudden rushes of ice rivers, of +exploding gases and of disintegrating bergs. With +those sounds pealing in our ears clarion-like, we entered +the "Gates of Hades," the Polar gateway, bound for +the harbor where the last fringe of the world's humanity +straggles finally up on the globe.</p> + +<p>As we entered Foulke Fiord, half a gale came +from the sea. We steered for the settlement of +Etah. A tiny settlement it was, for it was composed +of precisely four tents, which for this season, +had been pitched beside a small stream, just +inside of the first projecting point on the north shore. +Inside this point there was sheltered water for the +Eskimo's kayaks, and it also made a good harbor for the +schooner. It is possible in favorable seasons to push +through Smith Sound, over Kane Basin, into Kennedy +Channel, but the experiment is always at the risk of the +vessel.</p> + +<p>So, as there was no special reasons for us to hazard +life in making this attempt, we decided to prepare the +schooner here for the return voyage.</p> + +<p>These preparations would occupy several days. +We determined to spend as much of this time as possible +in sport, since much game abounded in this region. +Before we landed we watched the Eskimos harpoon a +white whale. There were no unexplored spots in this +immediate vicinity, as both Doctor Kane and Doctor +Hayes, in the middle of the last century, had been +thoroughly over the ground. The little auks kept us<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +busy for a day after our arrival, while hares, tumbling +like snowballs over wind-polished, Archæan rocks, gave +another day of gun recreation. Far beyond, along the +inland ice, were caribou, but we preferred to confine our +hunting to the seashore. The bay waters were alive +with eider-ducks and guillemots, while, just outside, +walruses dared us to venture in open contest on the +wind-swept water.</p> + +<p>After satisfying our desire for the hunt, we prepared +to start for Annoatok, twenty-five miles to the +northward. This is the northernmost settlement of the +globe, a place beyond which even the hardy Eskimos +attempt nothing but brief hunting excursions, and +where, curiously, money is useless because it has no +value.</p> + +<p>We decided to go in the motor boat, so the tanks +were filled with gasoline and suitable food and camp +equipment were loaded. On the morning of August 24, +we started for Annoatok.</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful day. The sun glowed in a sky +of Italian blue. A light air crossed the sea, which +glowed dully, like ground glass. Passing inside of +Littleton Island, we searched for relics along Lifeboat +Cove. There the <i>Polaris</i> was stranded in a sinking +condition in 1872, with fourteen men on board. The +desolate cliffs of Cape Hatherton were a midsummer +blaze of color and light that contrasted strongly with +the cold blue of the many towering bergs.</p> + +<p>As we went swiftly past the series of wind-swept +headlands, the sea and air became alive with seals, walruses +and birds. We did little shooting as we were +eagerly bent on reaching Annoatok.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> + +<p>As we passed the sharp rocks of Cairn Point, we +saw a cluster of nine tents on a small bay under Cape +Inglefield.</p> + +<p>"Look, look! There is Annoatok!" cried Tung-we, +our native guide. Looking farther, we saw that the +entire channel beyond was blocked with a jam of ice. +Fortunately we were able to take our boat as far as +we desired. A perpendicular cliff served as a pier to +which to fasten it. Here it could rise and fall with the +tide, and in little danger from drifting ice.</p> + +<p>Ordinarily, Annoatok is a town of only a single +family or perhaps two, but we found it unusually large +and populous, for the best hunters had gathered here +for the winter bear hunt. Their summer game catch +had been very lucky. Immense quantities of meat were +strewn along the shore, under mounds of stone. More +than a hundred dogs, the standard by which Eskimo +prosperity is measured, yelped a greeting, and twelve +long-haired, wild men came out to meet us as friends.</p> + +<p>It came strongly to me that this was the spot to +make the base for a Polar dash. Here were Eskimo +helpers, strong, hefty natives from whom I could select +the best to accompany me; here, by a fortunate chance, +were the best dog teams; here were plenty of furs for +clothing; and here was unlimited food. These supplies, +combined with supplies on the schooner, would give all +that was needed for the campaign. Nothing could have +been more ideal.</p> + +<p>For the past several days, having realized the +abundance of game and the auspicious weather, I had +thought more definitely of making a dash for the Pole. +With all conditions in my favor, might I not, by one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +powerful effort, achieve the thing that had haunted me +for years? My former failures dogged me. If I did +not try now, it was a question if an opportunity should +ever again come to me.</p> + +<p>Now every condition was auspicious for the effort. +I confess the task seemed audacious almost to the verge +of impossibility. But, with all these advantages so +fortunately placed in my hands, it took on a new and +almost weird fascination. My many years of schooling +in both Polar zones and in mountaineering would +now be put to their highest test.</p> + +<p>Yes, I would try, I told myself; I believed I should +succeed. I informed Mr. Bradley of my determination. +He was not over-optimistic about success, but he shook +my hand and wished me luck. From his yacht he +volunteered food, fuel, and other supplies, for local +camp use and trading, for which I have been thankful.</p> + +<p>"Annoatok" means "a windy place." There is really +nothing there to be called a harbor; but we now planned +to bring the schooner to this point and unload her +on the rocky shore, a task not unattended with danger. +However, the base had to be made somewhere hereabout, +as Etah itself is still more windy than Annoatok. +Moreover, at Etah the landing is more difficult, and it +was not nearly so convenient for my purpose as a base.</p> + +<p>Besides, there were gathered at Annoatok, as I +have described, with needed food and furs in abundance, +the best Eskimos<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> in all Greenland, from whom, by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +reason of the rewards from civilization which I could +give them, such as knives, guns, ammunition, old iron, +needles and matches, I could select a party more efficient, +because of their persistence, tough fibre, courage +and familiarity with Arctic traveling, than any party +of white men could be.</p> + +<p>The possible combination of liberal supplies and +valiant natives left absolutely nothing to be desired to +insure success, so far as preliminaries were concerned. +It was only necessary that good health, endurable +weather and workable ice should follow. The expenditure +of a million dollars could not have placed an expedition +at a better advantage. The opportunity was +too good to be lost. We therefore returned to Etah to +prepare for the quest.</p> + +<p>At Etah, practically everything that was to be +landed at Annoatok was placed on deck, so that the +dangerous stop beside the rocks of Annoatok could be +made a brief one. The ship was prepared for the contingency +of a storm.</p> + +<p>Late in the evening of August 26, the entire +population of Etah was taken aboard, the anchor was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>tripped, and soon the <i>Bradley's</i> bow put out on the +waters of Smith Sound for Annoatok. The night was +cold and clear, brightened by the charm of color. The +sun had just begun to dip under the northern horizon, +which marks the end of the summer double days of +splendor and begins the period of storms leading into +the long night. Early in the morning we were off +Annoatok.</p> + +<p>The launch and all the dories were lowered and +filled. Eskimo boats were pressed into service and +loaded. The boats were towed ashore. Only a few +reached Annoatok itself, for the wind increased and a +troublesome sea made haste a matter of great importance. +Things were pitched ashore anywhere on +the rocks where a landing could be found for the boats.</p> + +<p>The splendid efficiency of the launch proved equal +to the emergency, and in the course of about thirteen +hours all was safely put on shore in spite of dangerous +winds and forbidding seas. That the goods were spread +along the shore for a distance of several miles did not +much matter, for the Eskimos willingly and promptly +carried them to the required points.</p> + +<p>Now the time had come for the return of the +schooner to the United States. Unsafe to remain +longer at Annoatok at this advanced stage of the season, +it was also imperative that it go right on with barely a +halt at any other place. The departure meant a complete +severance between the civilized world and myself. +But I do not believe, looking back upon it, that the situation +seemed as awesome as might be supposed. Other +explorers had been left alone in the Northland, and I +had been through the experience before.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> + +<p>The party, so far as civilized men were concerned, +was to be an unusually small one. That, however, was +not from lack of volunteers, for when I had announced +my determination many of the crew had volunteered to +accompany me. Captain Bartlett himself wished to go +along, but generously said that if it seemed necessary +for him to go back with the schooner, he would need +only a cook and engineer, leaving the other men +with me.</p> + +<p>I wanted only one white companion, however, for +I knew that no group of white men could possibly +match the Eskimos in their own element. I had the +willing help of all the natives, too, at my disposal. +More than that was not required. I made an agreement +with them for their assistance throughout the +winter in getting ready, and then for as many as I +wanted to start with me toward the uttermost North. +For my white companion I selected Rudolph Francke, +now one of the Arctic enthusiasts on the yacht. He +had shipped for the experience of an Arctic trip. He +was a cultivated young German with a good scientific +schooling. He was strong, goodnatured, and his heart +was in the prospective work. These were the qualities +which made him a very useful man as my sole +companion.</p> + +<p>Early on the morning of September 3, I bade farewell +to Mr. Bradley, and not long afterward the yacht +moved slowly southward and faded gradually into the +distant southern horizon. I was left alone with my destiny, +seven hundred miles from the Pole.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> +<h2>BEGINNING PREPARATIONS FOR THE +POLAR DASH</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">THE ARCTIC SOLITUDE—RETROSPECTION AND INTROSPECTION—THE +DETERMINATION TO ACHIEVE—PLANNING +OUT THE DETAILS OF THE CAMPAIGN—AN +ENTIRE TRIBE BUSILY AT WORK</p> + +<h3>V<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">The Pole, the Route, and the Incentive</span></h3> + + +<p>When the yacht disappeared I felt a poignant +pang at my heart. After it had faded, I stood gazing +blankly at the sky, and I felt the lure of the old world. +The yacht was going home—to the land of my family +and friends. I was now alone, and, with the exception +of Francke, there was no white man among this tribe +of wild people with whom to converse during the long +Arctic night that was approaching. I knew I should +not be lonely, for there was a tremendous lot of work to +do, although I had unstinted assistance. In every detail, +the entire six months of labor including the catching +of animals, the drying of meat, the making of such +clothes and sledges as would be necessary, and the testing +of them, would have to be managed by myself. +Turning from the rocky highland where I stood, a wild +thrill stirred my heart. The hour of my opportunity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +had come. After years of unavailing hopes and depressing +defeats my final chance was presented! In +the determination to succeed, every drop of blood in my +body, every fibre of me responded.</p> + +<p>Why did I desire so ardently to reach the North +Pole? What did I hope to gain? What, if successful, +did I expect to reap as the result of my dreams? These +questions since have been asked by many. I have +searched the chambers of my memory and have tried to +resolve replies to myself. The attaining of the North +Pole meant at the time simply the accomplishing of a +splendid, unprecedented feat—a feat of brain and +muscle in which I should, if successful, signally surpass +other men. In this I was not any more inordinately +vain or seekful of glory than one who seeks pre-eminence +in baseball, running tournaments, or any other +form of athletics or sport.</p> + +<p>At the time, any applause which the world might +give, should I succeed, did not concern me; I knew +that this might come, but it did not enter into my +speculations.</p> + +<p>For years I had felt the lure of the silver glamor +of the North, and I can explain this no more than the +reason why a poet is driven to express himself in verse, +or why one child preternaturally develops amazing proficiency +in mathematics and another in music. Certain +desires are born or unconsciously developed in us. I, +with others before me, found my life ambition in the +conquest of the Pole. To reach it would mean, I knew, +an exultation which nothing else in life could give.</p> + +<p>This imaginary spot held for me the revealing of +no great scientific secrets. I never regarded the feat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +as of any great scientific value. The real victory would +lie, not in reaching the goal itself, but in overcoming +the obstacles which exist in the way of it. In the battle +with these I knew there would be excitement, danger, +necessary expedients to tax the brain and heroic feats +to tax the muscles, the ever constant incentive which +the subduing of one difficulty after another excites.</p> + +<p>During the first day at Annoatok, after the yacht +left, I thought of the world toward which it was going, +of the continents to the south of me, of the cities with +their teeming millions, and of the men with their multitudinous, +conflicting ambitions. I could see, in my +mind, the gigantic globe of my world swinging in cloud-swept +emerald spaces, and far in the remote, vast, white +regions in the north of it, far from the haunts of men, +thousands of miles from its populous cities, beyond the +raging of its blue-green seas, myself, alone, a wee, small +atom on its vast surface, striving to reach its hitherto +unattained goal. I felt, as I thought of my anticipation +and lonely quest, a sense of the terrible overwhelming +hugeness of the earth, and the poignant +loneliness any soul must feel when it embarks upon +some splendid solitary destiny.</p> + +<p>Beyond and above me I visioned the unimaginable, +blinding white regions of ice and cold, about which, like +a golden-crowned sentinel, with face of flame, the +circling midnight sun kept guard. Upon this desolate, +awe-inspiring stage—unchanged since the days of its +designing—I saw myself attempting to win in the most +spectacular and difficult marathon for the testing of +human strength, courage and perseverance, of body +and brain, which God has offered to man. I could see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +myself, in my fancy pictures, invading those roaring +regions, struggling over icy lands in the dismal twilight +of the Arctic morning, and venturing, with a few companions, +upon the lifeless, wind-swept Polar sea. A +black mite, I saw myself slowly piercing those white +and terrible spaces, braving terrific storms, assailing +green, adamantine barriers of ice, crossing the swift-flowing, +black rivers of those ice fields, and stoutly persisting +until, successful, I stood alone, a victor, upon the +world's pinnacle!</p> + +<p>This thought gave me wild joy. That I, one white +man, might alone succeed in this quest gave me an impetus +which only single-handed effort and the prospect +of single-handed success can give. There was pleasure +in the thought that, in this effort, I was indebted to no +one; no one had expended money for me or my trip; no +white men were to risk their lives with me. Whether +it resulted in success or defeat, I alone should exult or +I alone should suffer. I was the mascot of no clique of +friends, nor the pawn of scientists who might find a +suppositious and mythical glory in the reflected light of +another's achievement. The quest was personal; the +pleasure of success must be personal.</p> + +<p>Yet, I want you to understand this thing was no +casual jaunt with me. All my life hinged about it, my +hopes were bent upon it; the doing of it was part of +me. My plans of action were not haphazard and hair-brained. +Logically and clearly, I mapped out a campaign. +It was based upon experience in known conditions, +experience gathered after years of discouragement +and failure.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 535px;"> +<img src="images/illo_101.jpg" width="535" height="800" alt="ON THE CHASE FOR BEAR + +THE BOX-HOUSE AT ANNOATOK AND ITS WINTER ENVIRONMENT" title="" /> +<span class="caption">ON THE CHASE FOR BEAR<br /> +THE BOX-HOUSE AT ANNOATOK AND ITS WINTER ENVIRONMENT</span> +</div> + +<p>At Annoatok we erected a house of packing +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +boxes.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> +The building of the house, which was to be both +storehouse and workshop, was a simple matter. The +walls were made of the packing boxes, especially +selected of uniform size for this purpose.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_102.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="MAN'S PREY OF THE ARCTIC SEA" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MAN’S PREY OF THE ARCTIC SEA—WALRUS ASLEEP</span> +</div> + +<p>Enclosing a space thirteen by sixteen feet, the +cases were quickly piled up. The walls were held +together by strips of wood, the joints sealed with +pasted paper, with the addition of a few long boards. A +really good roof was made by using the covers of the +boxes as shingles. A blanket of turf over this confined +the heat and permitted, at the same time, healthful +circulation of air.</p> + +<p>We slept under our own roof at the end of the +first day. Our new house had the great advantage +of containing within it all our possessions within easy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +reach at all times. When anything was needed in the +way of supplies, all we had to do was to open a box +in the wall.</p> + +<p>The house completed, we immediately began the +work of building sledges, and the equally important +work, at which a large proportion of the Eskimos were +at once set, of making up furs into clothing. According +to my plans, each one of us embarking in the Polar +journey would have to carry two suits of fur clothing. +In the Arctic regions, especially when men are marching +to the limit of their strength every day, the bodily +heat puts the clothing into such condition that the only +safe way, if health is to be preserved, is to change suits +frequently, while the perspiration-soaked furs are laid +out to dry.</p> + +<p>The Eskimos had also to prepare for winter.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +Tents of sealskin are inhabitable only in the summer +time. For the coming period of darkness and bitter +cold, they made igloos of stone and snow.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, they were not in the least averse to +agreeable relaxation. I had with me a good supply of +tea, and was in the habit of drinking a cup of it with +Francke about four o'clock every afternoon. Observing +this, the Eskimos at once began to present themselves +at the tea hour. Fortunately, tea was one of the +supplies of which I had brought a good deal for the +sake of pleasing the natives, and it was not long before +I had a very large and gossipy afternoon tea party +every day, in this northernmost human settlement of +the globe.</p> + +<p>I planned to superintend every detail of progress, +as far as it concerned our journey. I could watch the +men, too, and see which ones promised to be the best +to accompany me. And, what was a most important +point, I could also perfect my final plans for the advance +right at my final base.</p> + +<p>I aimed to reach the top of the globe in the angle +between Alaska and Greenland, a promising route +through a new and lonesome region which had not been +tried, abandoning what has come to be called the +"American Route." I should strike westward and then +northward, working new trails. With Annoatok as a +base of operations, I planned to carry sufficient supplies +over Schley Land and along the west coast of the game +lands, trusting that the game along this region would +furnish sufficient supplies en route to the shores of the +Polar sea. This journey to land's end would also afford +a test of every article of equipment needed in the field +work, and would enable us to choose finally from a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +selected number of Eskimos those most able to endure +the rigors of the unlimited journey which lay before us.</p> + +<p>I sent out a few hunters along the intended line +to seek for haunts of game, but I was not surprised that +their searching in the dark was practically unsuccessful, +and it merely meant that I must depend upon my previous +knowledge of conditions. I knew from the general +reports of the natives, and from the explorations of +Sverdrup, that the beginning of the intended route +offered abundant game, and the indications were that +further food would likewise be found as we advanced. +The readiness with which the Eskimos declared themselves +ready to trust to the food supply of the unknown +region was highly encouraging.</p> + +<p>To start from my base with men and dogs in superb +condition, with their bodies nourished with wholesome +fresh meat instead of the nauseating laboratory stuff +too often given to men in the North, was of vital importance; +and if the men and dogs could afterwards +be supported in great measure by the game of the +region through which we were to pass, it would be of +an importance more vital still. If my information was +well founded and my general conjectures correct, I +should have advantages which had not been possessed +by any other leader of a Polar expedition. The new +route seemed to promise, also, immunity from the +highly disturbing effects of certain North Greenland +currents. In all, the chances seemed not unfavorable.</p> + +<p>With busy people hard at work about me, I knew +that the months of the long night would pass rapidly +by. There was much to do, and with the earliest dawn +of the morning of the next year we must be ready to +start for the Pole.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE CURTAIN OF NIGHT DROPS</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">TRIBE OF TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY NATIVES BUSILY +BEGIN PREPARATIONS FOR THE POLAR DASH—EXCITING +HUNTS FOR THE UNICORN AND OTHER GAME +FROM ANNOATOK TO CAPE YORK—EVERY ANIMAL +CAUGHT BEARING UPON THE SUCCESS OF THE +VENTURE—THE GREY-GREEN GLOOM OF TWILIGHT +IN WHICH THE ESKIMO WOMEN COMMUNICATE +WITH THE SOULS OF THE DEAD</p> + +<h3>VI<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">The Sunset of 1907</span></h3> + + +<p>Winter, long-lasting, dark and dismal, approached. +To me it was to be a season of feverish labor in which +every hand at work and every hour employed counted +in the problem of success. While the hands of the entire +tribe would be busy, and while I should direct and help +in the making of sleds, catching of game, preparing of +meat, I knew that my mind would find continual excitement +in dreams of my quest, in anticipating and solving +its difficulties, in feeling the bounding pulse of the dash +over the ice of the Polar sea, with dogs joyously barking, +whips cracking the air, and the reappearing sun +paving our pathway with liquid gold. In the labor of +the long winter which I began to map out I knew I +should find ceaseless zest, for the pursuit of every +narwhal, every walrus, every fox I should regard with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +abated suspense, each one bearing upon my chances; in +the employment of every pair of hands I should hang +with an eager interest, the expediency and excellence of +the work making for success or failure. From this time +onward everything of my life, every native, every occurrence +began to have some bearing upon the dominating +task to which I had set myself.</p> + +<p>With the advance of winter, storms of frightful +ferocity began to arise. Inasmuch as we had stored +meat and blubber in large quantities about our camp, it +was not necessary at these times to venture out to dig +up supplies from great depths of snow drift. During +these periods hands were employed busily inside the +igloos. Although a large quantity of animals and furs +had been gathered by the hunters before our arrival, we +now unexpectedly discovered that the supply was inadequate. +According to my plans, a large party of +picked natives would accompany me to land's end and +somewhat beyond on the Polar sea when I started for +my dash in the coming spring. As spring is the best +hunting season, it was therefore imperative to secure +sufficient advance provisions for the families of these +men in addition to preparing requisites for my expedition. +So the early days of the winter would have to be +busily occupied by the men in a ceaseless hunt for game, +and later, even when the darkness had fully fallen, the +moonlight days and nights would thus have to be +utilized also.</p> + +<p>In the Polar cycle of the seasons there are peculiar +conditions which apply to circumstances and movements. +As the word, seasons, is ordinarily understood, there are +but two, a winter season and a summer season—a winter +season of nine months and a summer of three months.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> + +<p>But, for more convenient division of the yearly +periods, it is best to retain the usual cycle of four seasons. +Eskimos call the winter "ookiah," which also +means year, and the summer "onsah." Days are "sleeps." +The months are moons, and the periods are named in accord +with the movements of various creatures of the +chase.</p> + +<p>In early September at Annoatok the sun dips considerably +under the northern horizon. There is no +night. At sunset and at sunrise storm clouds hide the +bursts of color which are the glory of twilight, and the +electric afterglow is generally lost in a dull gray.</p> + +<p>The gloom of the coming winter night now thickens. +The splendor of the summer day has gone. A day +of six months and a night of six months is often ascribed +to the Polar regions as a whole, but this is only true of a +very small area about the Pole.</p> + +<p>As we come south, the sun slips under the horizon +for an ever-increasing part of each twenty-four hours. +Preceding and following the night, as we come from the +Pole, there is a period of day and night which lengthens +with the descent of latitude.</p> + +<p>It is this period which enables us to retain the names +of the usual seasons—summer for the double days, fall +for the period of the setting sun. This season begins +when the sun first dips under the ice at midnight for a +few moments. These moments increase rapidly, yet +one hardly appreciates that the sun is departing until +day and night are of equal length, for the night remains +light, though not cheerful. Then the day rapidly shortens +and darkens, and the sun sinks until at last there is +but a mere glimmer of the glory of day. Winter is lim<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>ited +to the long night, and spring applies to the days of +the rising sun, a period corresponding to the autumn +days of the setting sun.</p> + +<p>At Annoatok the midnight sun is first seen on +April 23. It dips in the sea on August 19. It thus encircles +the horizon, giving summer and continuous day +for one hundred and eighteen days. It sets at midday +on October 24, and is absent a period of prolonged +night corresponding to the day, and it +rises on February 19. The Arctic air, with its low +temperature and its charge of frosted humidity, so +distorts the sun's rays that when low it is frequently +lifted one or two diameters; therefore, the exact day or +hour for sunrise or sunset does not correspond to mathematical +calculations. Then follow days of spring.</p> + +<p>In the fall, when the harmonizing influence of the +sun is withdrawn, there begins a battle of the elements +which continues until stilled by the hopeless frost of +early night.</p> + +<p>At this time, although field work was painful, the +needs of our venture forced us to persistent action in +the chase of walrus, seal, narwhal and white whale. We +thus harvested food and fuel.</p> + +<p>Before winter ice spread over the sea, ptarmigan, +hare and reindeer were sought on land to supply the +table during the long night with delicacies, while bear +and fox pleased the palates of the Eskimos, and their +pelts clothed all.</p> + +<p>Many long journeys were undertaken to secure +an important supply of grass to pad boots and +mittens and also to secure moss, which serves as wick for +the Eskimo lamp. During the months of September<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +and October, along the entire Greenland coast, the Eskimos +were engaged in a feverish quest for reserve supplies. +Shortly after my arrival, word had been carried +from village to village that I was at Annoatok, and, intending +to make a dash for the "Big Nail," desired the +help of the entire tribe. Intense and spontaneous +activity followed. Knowing the demands of the North, +and of such work as I planned, the natives, without specific +instructions from me and with only a brief outline +of the planned Polar campaign which was sent from +village to village, immediately got busy gathering the +needed things. They knew better than I where to go +for certain game, and where certain desirable things were +obtainable. This relieved me of a great responsibility. +Each local group of natives was to perform some important +duty, suited to its available resources, in gathering +the tremendous amount of material required for our +trip. Each village had its peculiar game advantages.</p> + +<p>In some places foxes and hares, the skins of which +were necessary for coats and stockings, were abundant, +and the Eskimos must not only gather the greatest +number possible, but prepare the skins and make them +into properly fitting garments. In other places reindeer +were plentiful. The skin of these was needed for sleeping +bags, while the sinew was required for thread. In +still other places seal was the luck of the chase; its skin +was one of our most important needs. Of it boots were +made, and an immense amount of line and lashings +prepared.</p> + +<p>Thus, in one way or another, every man and woman +and most of the children of this tribe of two hundred and +fifty people were kept busy in the service of the expe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>dition. +The work was well done, and with much better +knowledge of the fitness of things than could have been +possessed by any possible gathering of alien white men.</p> + +<p>The quest of the walrus and the narwhal came in +our own immediate plan of adventure, although the narwhal, +called by whale fishers the unicorn, does not often +come under the eye of the white man. It afforded for +a brief spell good results in sport and useful material. +Its blubber is the pride of every housekeeper, for it gives +a long, hot flame to the lamp, with no smoke to spot the +igloo finery. The skin is regarded as quite a delicacy. +Cut into squares, it looks and tastes like scallops, with +only a slight aroma of train oil. The meat dries easily, +and is thus prized as an appetizer or as a lunch to be +eaten en route in sled or kayak. In this shape it was an +extremely useful thing for us, for it took the place of +pemmican on our less urgent journeys.</p> + +<p>Narwhals played in schools, far off shore, and +usually along the edges of some large ice field, their long +ivory tusks rising under spouts of breath and spray. +Whenever this glad sight was noted, every kayak about +camp was manned, and the skin canoes went flittering +like birds over the water. Some of the Eskimos climbed +to the ice fields and delivered their harpoons from a +secure footing. Others hid behind floating fragments +of heavy ice and made a sudden rush as the animals +passed. Still others came up in the rear, for the narwhal +cannot easily see backward, and does not often turn +to watch its enemies, its speed being so fast that it can +easily keep ahead of them.</p> + +<p>In these exciting hunts I participated with eager +delight, and by proxy mentally engaged in every en<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>counter. +For, in this sea game, existed food supplies +which, instead of entirely confining myself to pemmican, +I planned also to use on my Polar journey. As the skin +boats, like bugs, sped over the water, I felt the movement +of them surge in my brain; with the upraising of +each swift-darting native's arm I felt, as it were, my +heart stop with bated suspense. With every failure I +experienced a throb of dismay. With the hauling in of +each slimy beast I felt, as it were, nearer my goal.</p> + +<p>Narwhal hunting, in itself, and without the added +spur of personal interest, which I had, is brimful of +thrilling sport. The harpoon is always delivered at +close range. Whenever the dragging float marks the +end of the line in tow of the frightened creature, the line +of skin canoes follows. Timid by nature and fearing to +rise for breath, the narwhal plunges along until nearly +strangled. When he does come up, there are likely to +be several Eskimos near with drawn lances, which inflict +deep gashes.</p> + +<p>Again the narwhal plunges deep down, with but +one breath, and hurries along as best it can. But its +speed slackens and a line of crimson marks its hidden +path. Loss of blood and want of air do not give it a +chance to fight. Again it comes up with a spout. +Again the lances are hurled.</p> + +<p>The battle continues for several hours, with many +exciting adventures, but in the end the narwhal always +succumbs, offering a prize of several thousands of +pounds of meat and blubber. Victory as a rule is not +gained until the hunters are far from home, and also far +from the shore line. But the Eskimo is a courageous +hunter and an intelligent seaman.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> + +<p>To the huge carcass frail kayaks are hitched in a +long line. Towing is slow, wind and sea combining to +make the task difficult and dangerous. One sees nothing +of the narwhal and very little of the kayak, for dashing +seas wash over the little craft, but the double-bladed +paddles see-saw with the regularity of a pendulum. +Homecoming takes many hours and demands a prodigious +amount of hard work, but there is energy to +spare, for a wealth of meat and fat is the culmination of +all Eskimo ambition.</p> + +<p>Seven of these ponderous animals were brought in +during five days, making a heap of more than forty +thousand pounds of food and fuel. The sight of this +tremulous, blubbering mass filled my heart with joy. +Our success was not too soon, for now the narwhals suddenly +disappeared, and we saw no more of them. About +this time three white whales were also obtained at Etah +by a similar method of hunting.</p> + +<p>With the advent of actual winter, storms swept +over the land and sea with such fury that it was no longer +safe to venture out on the water in kayaks. After the +catching of several walruses from boats, sea hunting +now was confined to the quest of seal through young ice. +As such hunting would soon be limited to only a few +open spaces near prominent headlands, an industrious +pursuit was feverishly engaged in at every village from +Annoatok to Cape York, and hour by hour, day by day, +until the hunt of necessity changed from sea to land, the +husky natives engaged in seal catching. As yet we had +no caribou meat, and the little auks, which had been +gathered in nets during the summer, with the eider-duck +bagged later, soon disappeared as a steady diet. We<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +must now procure such available land game as hare, +ptarmigan and reindeer, for we had not yet learned to +eat with a relish the fishy, liver-like substance which is +characteristic of all marine mammals.</p> + +<p>Guns and ammunition were now distributed, and +when the winds were easy enough to allow one to venture +out, every Eskimo sought the neighboring hills. +Francke also took his exercise with a gun on his shoulder.</p> + +<p>The combined efforts resulted in a long line of +ptarmigan, two reindeer and sixteen hares. As snow +covered the upper slopes, the game was forced down +near the sea, where we could still hope to hunt in the +feeble light of the early part of the night.</p> + +<p>With a larder fairly stocked and good prospects +for other tasty meats, we were spared the anxiety of a +winter without supplies. Francke was an ideal chef in +the preparation of this game to good effect, for he had a +delightful way of making our primitive provisions quite +appetizing.</p> + +<p>In the middle of October fox skins were prime, and +then new steel traps were distributed and set near the +many caches. By this time all the Eskimos had abandoned +their sealskin tents and were snugly settled in +their winter igloos. The ground was covered with +snow, and the sea was almost entirely frozen.</p> + +<p>Everybody was busy preparing for the coming cold +and night. The temperature was about 20° below zero. +Severe storms were becoming less frequent, and the air, +though colder, was less humid and less disagreeable. An +ice-foot was formed by the tides along shore, and over +this the winter sledging was begun by short excursions +to bait the fox traps and gather the foxes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<p>Our life now resolved itself into a systematic +routine of work, which was practically followed throughout +the succeeding long winter night. About the box-house +in which Francke and I lived were igloos housing +eight to twelve families. The tribe of two hundred and +fifty was distributed in a range of villages along the +coast, an average of four families constituting a community. +Early each morning Koo-loo-ting-wah would +bang at my door, enter, and I would drowsily awaken +while he freshened the fire. Rising, we would prepare +hot coffee and partake of breakfast with biscuits. By +seven o'clock—according to our standard of time—five +or six of the natives would arrive, and, after a liberal +libation of coffee, begin work. I taught them to help +me in the making of my hickory sleds. Some I taught +to use modern carpentering instruments, which I had +with me. Another group was schooled in bending the +resilient but tough hickory. This was done by wrapping +old cloths about the wood and steeping it in hot water. +Others engaged, as the days went by, in making dog +harness, articles of winter clothing, and drying meat. +Not an hour was lost during the day. At noon we +paused for a bite of frozen meat and hot tea. Then we +fell to work again without respite until five or six o'clock.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, beginning in the early morning of our +steadily darkening days, other male members of the tribe +pursued game. Others again followed a routine of +scouring of the villages and collecting all the furs and +game which had been caught. The women of the tribe, +in almost every dimly lighted igloo, were no less industrious. +To them fell the task of assisting in drying the +fur skins, preparing dried meat and making our cloth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>ing. +Throughout the entire days they sat in their snow +and stone houses, masses of ill-smelling furs before them, +cutting the skins and sewing them into serviceable garments. +This work I often watched, passing from igloo +to igloo, with an interest that verged on anxiety; for +upon the strength, thickness and durability of these depended +my life, and that of the companions I should +choose, on the frigid days which would inevitably come +on my journey Poleward. But these broad-faced, +patient women did their work well. Their skill is quite +remarkable. They took my measurements, for instance, +by roughly sizing up my old garments and by measuring +me by sight. Garments were made to fit snugly after +the preliminary making by cutting out or inserting +patches of fur. Needles among the natives are indeed +precious. So valuable are they that if a point or eye is +broken, with infinite skill and patience the broken end +is heated and flattened, and by means of a bow drill a +new eye is bored. A new point is with equal skill shaped +on local stones. With marvelous patience they make +their own thread by drying and stripping caribou or +narwhale sinews.</p> + +<p>Were it not for their extraordinary eyesight, such +work, under such conditions, would be impossible. But +in the dark the natives can espy things invisible to white +men. This owl-sight enables them to hunt, if necessary, +in almost pitch darkness, and to perform tedious feats +of hand skill which, in such dim light, an alien would +bungle. I noticed, with much curiosity, that when the +natives inspected any photograph or object which I gave +them they always held it upside down. All objects, as +is well known, are reflected in the retina thus, and it is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +our familiarity with the size and comparative relations +of things which enables the brain to visualize an object +or scene at its proper angle. This strange, instinctive +act of the natives might form an interesting chapter in +optics.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, busy and interested in the beginning of +our various pursuits, the great crust which was to hold +down the sea for so many months, closed and thickened.</p> + +<p>During the last days of brief sunshine the weather +cleared, and at noon on October 24 everybody sought +the open for a last glimpse of the dying day. There +was a charm of color and glitter, but no one seemed quite +happy as the sun sank under the southern ice, for it was +not to rise again for one hundred and eighteen days.</p> + +<p>Just prior to the falling of darkness, with that instinctive +and forced hilarity with which aboriginal beings +seek to ward off an impending calamity, the Eskimos +engaged in their annual sporting event. It is a curious +sight, indeed, to behold a number of excited, laughing +Eskimos gathering about two champion dogs which are +to fight. Although the zest of betting is unknown, the +natives regard dog fights with much the same eager excitement +as a certain type of sporting man does a cock +encounter. Sometimes the dogs do not fight fairly, a +number of the animals bunching together and attacking +a single dog. Dogs selected for the fight are, of course, +the best of the teams. A dog which maintains his fighting +supremacy becomes a king dog, and when beaten +becomes a first lieutenant to the king.</p> + +<p>After the forced enthusiasm of this brief period of +excitement, the Eskimos begin to succumb to the inevitable +melancholia of nature, when the sun, the source of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +natural life, disappears and darkness descends. A +gloom descends heavily upon their spirits. A subtle +sadness tinctures their life, and they are possessed by an +impulse to weep. At this season, hour by hour, the +darkness thickens; the cold increases and chills their +igloos; the wind, exultant while the sun shines, now +whines and sobs dolorously—there is something gruesome, +uncanny, supernatural, in its siren sorrow. Outside, +the snow falls, the sea closes. Its clamant beat of +waves is silenced. Sea animals mostly disappear; land +animals are rare. Their source of physical supply vanished, +the Eskimos unconsciously feel the grim hand of +want, of starvation, which means death, upon them. The +psychology of this period of depression partly lies, undoubtedly, +in this instinctive dread of death from lack of +food and the natural depression of unrelieved gloom. +Moreover, there is a grief, born of the native superstition +that, when the sea freezes, the souls of all who have +perished in the waters are imprisoned during the long +night. Too fierce is the struggle of these people with +the elemental forces to permit them, like many other +aboriginal peoples to be obsessed greatly with superstitions. +Although their religion is a very primitive and +native one, it is usually only at the inception of night +that they feel the appalling nearness of a world +that is supernatural. As the last rim of the sun +sank over the southern ice, the natives entered upon a +formal period of melancholy, during which the bereavements +of each family, and the discomforts and disasters +of the year, were memoralized.</p> + +<p>I shall never forget that long, sad evening, which +lasted many normal days. The sun had descended. A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +sepulchral, gray-green curtain of gloom hung over the +chilled earth. In the dim semi-darkness could be +vaguely seen the outlines of the igloos, of the heaving +curvatures of snow-covered land, and the blacker, snake-like +twistings of open lanes of water, where the sea had +not yet frozen. Sitting in my box-house, I was startled +suddenly by a sound that made my flesh for the instant +creep. I walked to the door and threw it open. Over +the bluish, snow-covered land, formed by the indentures +and hollows, stretched dark-purplish shapes—Titan +shadows, sepulchral and ominous, some with shrouded +heads, others with spectral arms threateningly upraised. +Nebulous and gruesome shreds of blue-fog like wraiths +shifted over the sea. Out of the sombre, heavy air began +to issue a sound as of many women sobbing. From +the indistinct distance came moaning, crooning voices. +Sometimes hysterical wails of anguish rent the air, and +now and then frantic choruses shrieked some heart-aching +despair. My impression was that I was in a +land of the sorrowful dead, some mid-strata of the spirit +world, where, in this gray-green twilight, formless +things in the distance moved to and fro.</p> + +<p>There is, I believe, in the heart of every man, an +instinctive respect for sorrow. With muffled steps, I +left the igloo and paced the dreariness of ice, treading +slowly, lest, in the darkness, I slip into some unseen +crevasse of the open sea. A strange and eerie sight confronted +me. Along the seashore, bending over the lapping +black water, or standing here and there by inky, +open leads in the severed ice, many Eskimo women were +gathered. Some stood in groups of two or three. +Bowed and disconsolate, her arms about them, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +almost every hundred steps, I saw a weeping mother and +her children. Standing rigid and stark, motionless +graven images of despair, or frantically writhing to and +fro, others stood far apart in desolate places, alone.</p> + +<p>The dull, opaque air was tinged with a strange phosphorescent +green, suggestive of a place of dead things; +and now, like the flutterings of huge death-lamps, along +the horizon, where the sun had sunk, gashes of crimson +here and there fitfully glowed blood-red in the pall-like +sky.</p> + +<p>To the left, as I walked along, I recognized Tung-wingwah, +with a child on her back and a bag of moss in +her hand. She stood behind a cheerless rock, with her +face toward the faint red flushes of the sun. She stood +motionless. Big tears rolled from her eyes, but not a +sound was uttered. To my low queries she made no +response. I invited her to the camp to have a cup of +tea, thinking to change her sad thoughts and loosen her +tongue. But still her eyes did not leave that last distant +line of open water. From another, I later learned that +in the previous April her daughter of five, while playing +on the ice-foot, slipped and was lost in the sea. The +mother now mourned because the ice would bury her +little one's soul.</p> + +<p>A little farther along was Al-leek-ah, a woman of +middle age, with two young children by her side. She +was hysterical in her grief, now laughing with a weird +giggle, now crying and groaning as if in great pain, and +again dancing with emotions of madness. I learned her +story from a chatter that ran through all her anguish. +Towanah, her first husband, had been drawn under the +ice, by the harpoon line, twenty years ago. And though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +she had been married three times since, she was trying +to keep alive the memory of her first love. I went on, +marveling at a primitive fidelity so long enduring.</p> + +<p>Still farther along towards the steep slopes of the +main coast, I saw Ahwynet, all alone in the gloomy +shadow of great cliffs. Her story was told in chants +and moans. Her husband and all her children had been +swept by an avalanche into the stormy seas. There was +a kind of wild poetry in the song of her bereavement. +Tears came to my eyes. The rush of the avalanche, the +hiss of the wind, the pounding of the seas, were all indicated. +And then, in heart-breaking tones, came "blood +of her blood, flesh of her flesh, under the frozen waters," +and other sentiments which I could not catch in the +undertone of sobs.</p> + +<p>Cold shivers began to run up my spine, and I +turned to retreat to camp. Here was a scene that perhaps +a Dante might adequately write about. I cannot. +I felt that I, an alien, was intruding into the realm of +some strange and mystic sorrow. I felt the sombre thrill +of a borderland world not human. These women were +communicating with the souls of their dead. To those +who had perished in the sea they were telling, ere the +gates of ice closed above them, all the news of the past +year—things of interest and personal, and even of years +before, as far back as they could remember. Almost +every family each year loses someone in the sea; +almost every family was represented by these weeping +women, overburdened with their own naive sorrow, and +who yet strangely sought to cheer the souls of the disconsolate +and desolate dead.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, while the women were weeping and giv<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>ing +their parting messages to the dead, the male members +of the tribe, in chants and dramatic dances, were +celebrating, in the igloos, the important events of the +past year.</p> + +<p>Inside, the igloos were dimly lighted with stone +blubber lamps. These, during the entire winter, furnish +light and heat. The lamp consists of a crescent-shaped +stone with a concavity, in which there is animal oil and a +line of crushed moss as a wick. Lighted early in the season, +for an entire winter, these lamps cast a faint, perpetual, +flickering light. Shadows dance grotesquely +about on the rounded walls. An oily stench pervades the +unventilated enclosure. In this weird, yellow-blackish +radiance the men engage in their fantastic dances. Moving +the central parts of their bodies to and fro, they utter +weird sing-song chants. They recite, in jerky, curious +singing, the history of the big events of the year; of successful +chases; of notable storms; of everything that +means much in their simple lives. As they dance, their +voices rise to a high pitch of excitement. Their eyes +flash like smoldering coals. Their arms move frantically. +Some begin to sob uncontrollably. A hysteria of +laughter seizes others. Finally the dance ends; exhausted, +they pass into a brief lethargy, from which they +revive, their melancholia departed. The women return +from the shores of the sea; they wipe their tears, and, +with native spontaneity, forget their depression and +smile again.</p> + +<p>While I was interested in the curious spectacles presented, +the sunset of 1907 to me was inspiration for the +final work in directing the completion of the outfit with +which to begin the conquest of the Pole at sunrise of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +1908. Fortunately, I was not handicapped by the company +of the usual novices taken on Polar expeditions. +There were only two of us white men, and white men, at +the best, must be regarded as amateurs compared with +the expert efficiency of Eskimos in their own environment. +Our food supply contained only the prime factors +of primitive nourishment. Special foods and laboratory +concoctions and canned delicacies did not fill an +important space in our larder. Nor had we balloons, +automobiles, motor sleds or other freak devices. We +did, however, I have said, have what was of utmost importance, +an abundance of the best hickory and metal +for the making of the sleds upon which our destinies +were vitally to depend.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> +<h2>FIRST WEEK OF THE LONG NIGHT</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC TWILIGHT—PURSUING BEAR, +CARIBOU AND SMALLER GAME IN SEMI-GLOOM</p> + +<h3>VII<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">The Glory of the Aurora</span></h3> + + +<p>The sun had dropped below the horizon. The +gloom continued steadily to thicken. Each twenty-four +hours, at the approximate approach of what was +the noon hour when the sun had been above the horizon, +the sky to the south of us glowed with marvelous, subdued +sunset hues. By this time our work had gone +ahead by progressive stages. Furs, to protect us from +the cold of the uttermost North on my prospective trip, +had been prepared and were being made into clothing; +meat and fat, for food and fuel, were being dried and +stored in numerous caches about Annoatok; several of +the sledges and part of the equipment were ready.</p> + +<p>We still had need of large quantities of supplies, +and, while some of the natives were busy with their +routine work, we planned that as many others as possible +should use the twilight days pursuing bear, caribou, +fox, hare and other game far beyond the usual +Eskimo haunts. Before the dawn of the sun's afterglow, +on the morning of October 26, seven sledges with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +sixty dogs were on the ice-foot near our camp, ready to +start for hunting grounds near Humboldt Glacier, a +distance of one hundred miles northward.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>While the teamsters waited for the final password +the dogs chafed fiercely. I could barely see the outlines +of my companions in the gloom, and it was difficult, in +the irregular snow and tide-lifted ice descending to sea +level, to find footing.</p> + +<p>The word to start was given. My companions took +up the cry.</p> + +<p>"<i>Huk! Huk! Huk!</i>" (Go! Go!) they shouted.</p> + +<p>The dogs responded in leaps and howls.</p> + +<p>"<i>Howah! Howah!</i>" (Right! Right!) "<i>Egh! +Egh!</i>" (Stop! Stop!) "<i>Aureti!</i>" (Behave!) came echoingly +along the line of teams. Finally the wild dash +slackened, the dogs regulated their paces to an easy trot, +and we swept steadily along the frozen highway of the +tide-made shelf of the ice-foot. The sledges dodged +stones and ice-blocks, edged along dangerous precipices, +in the depths of which I heard the swish of water, and +glided miraculously over crevices and along deep gorges. +Jumping about the sledges, guiding, pushing, or retarding +their speed, cracking their whips in the air, the +natives, with that art which only aborigines seem to +have, picked the way and controlled the dogs, but a few +generations removed from their wolf progenitors, with +amazing dexterity.</p> + +<p>A low wind blew down the slopes and froze our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +breath in lines of frost about our heads. The temperature +was 35° below zero. To the left of us was Kane +Basin, recalling its history of human strife northward. +It was filled with serried ranges of crushed ice, a berg +here and there, all in the light of the kindling sky, aglow +with purple and blue. To the far west I saw the +dim outline of Ellesmere, my promised land, over which +I hoped to force a new route to the Pole; upon its snowy +highlands was poured a soft creamy light from encouraging +skies. To the right was the rugged coast of Greenland, +its huge, ice-chiselled cliffs leaping portentously +forward in the gloom. Thrilling with the race, we made +a run of twenty miles and reached Rensselaer Harbor, +where Dr. Kane had spent his long nights of misfortune.</p> + +<p>We pitched camp at the ice-foot at the head of the +bay. Although we found traces of hare and fox, it was +too dark to venture on the chase. The temperature had +fallen to −40°, the wind pierced with a sharp sting. For +my shelter I erected a new tent which I had invented, +and the efficiency of which I desired to test. Taking the +sledge frame work as a platform, a folding top of strong +canvas was fastened, and spread between two bars of +hickory from each end. The entrance was in front. +Inside was a space eight feet long and three and one-half +feet wide, with a round whaleback top. Inside this +a supplementary wall was constructed of light blankets, +offering an air space of an inch between the outer wall +as a non-conductor to confine the little heat generated +within. As there was ample room for only two persons, +Koo-loo-ting-wah, my leading man, was invited to share +the tent. The natives had not provided themselves with +shelter of any kind. They had counted on either build<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>ing +an igloo or seeking the shelter of the snows, as do the +creatures of the wilds.</p> + +<p>Inside my tent I prepared a meal on the little +German stove, burning the vapor of alcohol. The meal +consisted of a pail of hot corn meal, fried bacon and a +liberal all-round supply of steaming tea. To accomplish +this, which included melting the snow, heating the water, +and cooking everything separately, required about two +hours. As I considered eating outside with any degree +of comfort impossible, my companions were invited to +crowd inside the tent. The vapor of their breath and +that of the cooking soon condensed into snow, and a +miniature snowstorm covered everything within. After +this was swept out, the Eskimos were invited to enter +again. All partook of the meal ravenously, and then +emerged to reconnoiter the surroundings. Tracks of +ptarmigan, hare and foxes were found, and as we moved +about with seeking, owl eyes, ravens shouted notes of +welcome.</p> + +<p>We then retired to rest. As there was no snow +about that was sufficiently hard to cut blocks with which +to erect snow houses, the natives placed themselves in +semi-reclining positions on their sledges and slept in their +traveling clothes. After a few hours they awoke and +partook of chopped frozen meat and blubber; two hours +later, they made a fire in a tin can, with moss and blubber +as fuel, and over this prepared a pot of parboiled meat. +A crescent-shaped wall of snow was built to break the +wind; in the shelter of this they sat, grinning delightedly, +and eating savagely, with much smacking of the lips, the +steaming broth and walrus meat. All this I studied with +intense interest. I desired on this trip not only to test<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +my tent, but to learn more of the native arts of the +Eskimo, knowing that I, on my Polar trip, must, if I +would be successful, adapt myself to just such methods +of living.</p> + +<p>This was my first winter experience of camping out +in the night season for this year, and, with only a diet of +meal and bacon, I was miserably cold. I was now testing +also for the first time the new winter clothing with +which I and all my companions were dressed. Our +shirts were made of bird skins. Over these were coats +of blue fox or caribou skins; our trousers were of bear, +our boots of seal, and our stockings of hare skins. This +was the usual native winter costume, but under it I had +added a suit of underwear.</p> + +<p>Retiring again for rest, I left instructions to be +called for an early start. It seemed that I had hardly +settled comfortably in my sleeping bag when the call for +action came.</p> + +<p>We hastily partook of tea and biscuits, harnessed +our teams and started through the dark. The Eskimos, +having eaten their fill of fat and frozen meat, to which I +must yet accustom myself, were thoroughly comfortable. +I was miserably cold.</p> + +<p>By running behind my sledge I produced sufficient +bodily heat after awhile to feel comfortable. My face +suffered severely from the cutting slant of the winds. +We passed the perpendicular walls of Cape Seiper at +dawn. We ran along the long, straight coast into Bancroft +Bay during the six hours of twilight. The journey +was continued to Dallas Bay by a forced march of fifty +miles before we halted.</p> + +<p>The scene displayed the rare glory of twilight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +charms as it had the day before, but the snow was +deeper, the temperature lower. The wind steadily increased +and veered northward. We made several efforts +to cross the bay ice, but cracked ice, huge uplifted blocks +and deep snows compelled a retreat to the ice-foot.</p> + +<p>The ice-foot along Smith Sound is a superb highway, +where otherwise sledge travel would be quite impossible +along the coast.</p> + +<p>Along Dallas Bay we found a great deal of grass-covered +land in undulating valleys and on low hills, +which offered grazing for caribou and hare. The preceding +glimmer of the new moon, which was to rise a +few days hence, offered sufficient light to search for +game.</p> + +<p>We now fed our dogs for the first time since leaving +Annoatok. After a liberal drink of snow water, we +started to seek our luck in the chase. In the course of +an hour my companions returned with four hares which, +when dressed, weighed about forty-eight pounds. Two +of these were cached. The others were eaten later.</p> + +<p>Before dawn of the day-long twilight the wind +increased to a full gale. The sky to the north, smoky +all night, now blackened as with soot. The wind came +with a howl that brought to mind the despairing cries of +the dying explorers whose bleached bones were strewn +along the shore. The gloomy outline of the coast remained +visible for awhile; but soon the air thickened +and came weighted with snow that piled up in huge +drifts.</p> + +<p>The Eskimos took a few of their favorite dogs and +sought shelter to the lee of the tent, where drift covered +their blankets with snow. Breathing holes were kept<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +open over their faces. Buried in snow drifts, they were +imprisoned for twenty-eight hours. But this tent sled +sheltered Koo-loo-ting-wah and myself. When the rush +of the storm had abated we began digging our way out. +In this effort we dug up men and dogs like potatoes +from a patch. The northern sky had paled, the south +was brightening. The pack was lined with long lines +beyond each hummock; the snow was covered with a +strong crust. But the ice-foot was a hopeless line of +drifts which made travel over it quite impossible.</p> + +<p>The work of pounding snow from the dogs and +freeing the sledges brought to our faces beads of perspiration +which rolled off and froze in lines of ice on our +furs. We were none the worse as a result of the storm, +and although hungry as wolves, time was too precious to +stop for a full meal.</p> + +<p>We now pushed out of the bay, on to the sea ice. +At this point the dogs scented a bear and soon crossed +its track. Rested and hungry, they were in condition +for a desperate chase. Their sharp noses pointed keenly +into the huge bear foot-prints, their little ears quivered, +while, with howls, they started onward in a mad rush.</p> + +<p>Neither our voices nor the whips made an impression +on their wild speed. We crossed banks and ridges +of snow and swirled about slopes of ice, gripping +sledges violently. Now we were thrown to one side, +again to the other, dragging resistlessly beside the sleds. +Rising, we gripped the rear upstanders with fierce +determination.</p> + +<p>Just how we escaped broken limbs, and our sledges +utter destruction, is a mystery to me. After a run of an +hour we sighted the bear. The animal had evidently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +sighted us, for he was galloping for the open water +toward the northwest. We cut the fleetest dogs loose +from each team. Freed, they rushed over the snow like +race-horses. But the bear had an advantage. As +the first dog nipped his haunches he plunged into the +black waters. We advanced and waited for him to rise. +But this bruin had sense enough to emerge on the opposite +shore, where he shook off the freezing waters +vigorously, and then sat down as if to have a +laugh at us.</p> + +<p>I knew that to plunge into the waters would have +been fatal to dog or man and equally fatal to a boat, as +ice, in the intense cold, would form about it so rapidly +that it could not be propelled.</p> + +<p>The dogs sat down and howled a chorus of sad disappointment. +For miles about, the men sought fruitlessly +for a way to cross. Outwitted, we returned to +continue our journey Northward.</p> + +<p>Advance Bay and its islands were in sight. Among +these, we aimed to place our central camp. The light +was fading fast, and a cold wind came from Humboldt +Glacier, which at this time was located by a slight darkening +of the sky. Many grounded icebergs were about, +and the sea ice was much crossed. The hummocks and +the snow were not as troublesome as farther south.</p> + +<p>Two ravens followed us, their shrill cries echoing +from berg to berg. The Eskimos inferred from their +presence that bears were near, but we saw no tracks.</p> + +<p>The cries of the ravens were nearly as provoking +to the dogs as the bear tracks, and we moved along +rapidly to Brook's Island. This was rather high, with a +plateau and sharp cliffs. Bonsall Island near by was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +rounded by glacial action. Between them we found a +place to camp somewhat sheltered from the wind.</p> + +<p>While eating our ration of corn meal and bacon, +howls of the dogs rose to a fierce crescendo. I supposed +they were saluting the coming of the moon, as is their +custom, but the howls changed to tones of increasing +excitement. We went out to inquire, but saw nothing. +It was so dark that I could not see the dogs twenty feet +away, and the cold wind made breathing difficult.</p> + +<p>"<i>Nan nook</i>" (Bear), the Eskimos said in an undertone. +I looked around for some position of defense. +But the dense night-blackness rendered this hopeless, so +we took our position behind the tent, rifles in hand. The +bear, of an inquisitive turn of mind, deliberately advanced +upon us. "<i>Taokoo! taokoo! igloo dia oo-ah-tonie!</i>" +(Look! look! beyond the iceberg!) said the +Eskimos. Neither the iceberg nor the bear was visible. +After a cold and exciting wait, the bear turned and hid +behind another iceberg. We separated a few of the +best bear dogs from each other. Bounding off, they +disappeared quietly in the darkness. The other dogs +were fastened to the sledges, and away we started.</p> + +<p>I sat on To-ti-o's sledge, as he had the largest team. +We jumped crevasses, and occasionally dipped in open +water.</p> + +<p>The track of the bear wound about huge bergs +which looked in the darkness like nebulous shadows. +The dogs, of themselves, followed the invisible line of +tracks.</p> + +<p>Soon the wolfish dogs ahead began to shout the +chorus of their battle. We left the track in an air-line +course for the dark mystery out of which the noise came.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +To-ti-o took the lead. As we neared the noise, all but +two dogs of his sledge were cut loose. The sledge overturned, +I under it. As Koo-loo-ting-wah came along, +he freed all his dogs. I passed him my new take-down +Winchester.</p> + +<p>Hurrying after To-ti-o, he had advanced only a few +steps when To-ti-o fired. Koo-loo-ting-wah, noting an +effort of the bear to rise, fired the new rifle.</p> + +<p>A flash of fire lit the darkness. Koo-loo-ting-wah +rushed to me, asking for the folding lantern. The +smokeless powder had broken the new gun. To-ti-o had +no more cartridges. The bear, however, was quiet. We +advanced, lances in hand.</p> + +<p>The dogs danced wildly about the bear, but he +managed to throw out his feet with sufficient force to +keep the canine fangs disengaged. The other Eskimos +now came, with rushing dogs in advance. To-ti-o dashed +forward and delivered the lance under the bear's +shoulder. The bear was his. He thereby not only +gained the prize for the expedition, but, by the addition +of the bear to his game list, completed his retinue of accomplishments +whereby he could claim the full privileges +of manhood.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 532px;"> +<img src="images/illo_135.jpg" width="532" height="800" alt="THE HELPERS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE HELPERS—NORTHERNMOST MAN AND HIS WIFE</span> +</div> + +<p>Among other things, it gave him the right to marry. +He had already secured a bride of twelve, but, without +this bear conquest, the match would not have been permanent. +He danced with the romantic joy of a young +lover. We drove the dogs off from the victim with +lashes, and fell to and skinned and dressed the carcass. +A taste was given to each dog. The balance was placed +on the sledges. Soon we were to camp, waiting for the +sled loads of bear meat.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 539px;"> +<img src="images/illo_136.jpg" width="539" height="800" alt="A MECCA OF MUSK OX ALONG EUREKA SOUND +A NATIVE HELPER +AH-WE-LAH'S PROSPECTIVE WIFE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">A MECCA OF MUSK OX ALONG EUREKA SOUND<br /> +A NATIVE HELPER<br /> +AH-WE-LAH’S PROSPECTIVE WIFE</span> +</div> + +<p>On the day following we started to hunt caribou. +The sky was beautifully clear; the glacial wind was lost +as we left the ice. The party scattered among numerous +old bergs of the glacier. Koo-loo-ting-wah accompanied +me. We aimed to rise to a small tableland from +which I might make a study of the surroundings.</p> + +<p>We had not gone inland more than a mile when we +saw numerous fresh caribou tracks. Following these, +we moved along a steep slope to the tableland above at +an altitude of about one thousand feet. We peeped +over the crest. Below us were two reindeer digging +under the snow for food. The light was good, and they +were in gun range. An Eskimo, however, gets very near +his game before he chances a shot, so, winding about +under the crest of a cliff or a snow-covered shelf of rocks, +we got to their range and fired.</p> + +<p>The creatures fell. They were nearly white, young, +and possessed long fur and thick skins, which we needed +badly for sleeping bags. With pocket knives, the +natives skinned the animals and divided the meat in three +packs while I examined the surroundings.</p> + +<p>Part of the face of Humboldt Glacier, which extends +sixty miles north, was clearly visible in cliffs +of a dark blue color. The interior ice ran in waves like +the surface of stormy seas, perfectly free of snow, with +many crevasses. An odd purplish-blue light upon it was +reflected to the skies, resembling to some extent a water +sky. The snow of the sea ice below was of a delicate +lilac. Otherwise, sky and land were flooded with the +usual dominant purple of the Arctic twilight.</p> + +<p>This glacier, the largest in Arctic America, had at +one time extended very much farther south. All the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +islands, including Brook's, had at one time been under +its grinding influence. As a picture it was a charming +study in purple and blue, but the temperature was too +low and the light too nearly spent to venture a further +investigation.</p> + +<p>The Eskimos fixed for me an extremely light pack. +This was comfortably placed on my back, with a bundle +of thongs over the forehead. The natives took their +huge bundles, and, together, we started for camp. At +every rest we cut off slices of caribou tallow. I was surprised +to find that I had acquired a taste for a new +delicacy. At camp we found the natives, all in good +humor, awaiting us beside heaps of meat and skins. All +had been successful in securing from one to two animals +each in regions nearer by. In a further search they +had failed to find promising tracks, so we proposed to +return on the morrow, hoping to meet bears en route.</p> + +<p>With the stupor of the gluttony of reindeer meat +and the fatigue of the long chase, we slept late. Awaking, +we partook each of a cup of tea, and packed and +loaded the meat. Drawing heavy loads, the dogs gladly +leaped forward. The twilight flush already suffused +the sky with incandescence. Against the southeastern +sky, glowing with rose, the great glaciers of Humboldt +loomed in walls of violet, while the sea displayed many +shades of rose and lilac, according to the direction of the +light on the slope of the drifts.</p> + +<p>Knowing that their noses pointed to a land of walrus, +the dogs kept up a lively pace. Not a breath of +air was stirring. The temperature was -42°. Aiming +to make Annoatok in two marches, we ran behind the +sledges to save dog energy as much as possible. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +cold enforced vigorous exercise. But, weighted down +by furs, the comfort of the sledges was often sought +to escape the tortures of perspiration. The source of +light slowly shifted along shadowed mountains under +the frozen sea. Our path glowed with electric, multi-colored +splendor.</p> + +<p>By degrees, the rose-colored sky assumed the hue of +old gold, the violet embroideries of clouds changed to +purple. The gold, in running bands, darkened; the +purple thickened. Soon new celestial torches lighted +the changing sheen of the snows. Into the dome of +heaven swam stars of burning intensity, each of which +rivalled the sun in a miniature way. In this new illumination +the twilight fires lost flame and color. Cold +white incandescence electrically suffused the frigid sky.</p> + +<p>I strode onward, in that white, blazing air, the joy +and beauty of it enthralling my soul. I felt as though +I were walking in a world of heatless fire, a half supernatural +realm such as that wherein reigned the gods of +ancient peoples. I felt as an old Norseman must have +felt when the glory of Valhalla burst upon him. For a +long time I was unconscious of the fatigue which was +growing upon me. Finally, overcome by the long +forced march, I sank on my sled. The Eskimos, chanting +songs, loomed ahead, their forms magnified in the +unearthly light. Slowly a subtle change appeared along +the horizon. Silent and impressed, I watched the changing +scenes and evolving lights as if all were some divine +and awe-inspiring stage arranged by God for some +heroic drama of man.</p> + +<p>New and warm with shimmering veils of color, attended +by four radiant satellites, the golden face of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +moon rose majestically over the sparkling pinnacles of +the Greenland glaciers. Below, the lovely planet-deflected +images formed rainbow curves like rubied necklaces +about her invisible neck. As the moon ascended +in a spiral course the rose hues paled, the white light +from the stars softened to a rich, creamy glow.</p> + +<p>We continued our course, the Eskimos singing, the +dogs occasionally barking. Hours passed. Then we +all suddenly became silent. The last, the supreme, +glory of the North flamed over earth and frozen sea. +The divine fingers of the aurora,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> that unseen and intangible +thing of flame, who comes from her mysterious +throne to smile upon a benighted world, began to +touch the sky with glittering, quivering lines of glowing +silver. With skeins of running, liquid fire she wove +over the sky a shimmering panorama of blazing beauty. +Forms of fire, indistinct and unhuman, took shape and +vanished. From horizon to zenith, cascades of milk-colored +fire ascended and fell, as must the magical fountains +of heaven.</p> + +<p>In the glory of this other-world light I felt the in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>significance +of self, a human unit; and, withal I became +more intensely conscious than ever of the transfiguring +influence of the sublime ideal to which I had set +myself. I exulted in the thrill of an indomitable determination, +that determination of human beings to essay +great things—that human purpose which, throughout +history, has resulted in the great deeds, the great art, of +the world, and which lifts men above themselves. Spiritually +intoxicated, I rode onward. The aurora faded. +But its glow remained in my soul.</p> + +<p>We arrived at camp late on November 1.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 560px;"> +<img src="images/illo_141.jpg" width="560" height="480" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE MOONLIGHT QUEST OF THE +WALRUS</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">DESPERATE AND DANGEROUS HUNTING, IN ORDER TO +SECURE ADEQUATE SUPPLIES FOR THE POLAR DASH—A +THRILLING AND ADVENTUROUS RACE IS MADE OVER +FROZEN SEAS AND ICY MOUNTAINS TO THE WALRUS +GROUNDS—TERRIFIC EXPLOSION OF THE ICE ON +WHICH THE PARTY HUNTS—SUCCESS IN SECURING +OVER SEVEN SLED-LOADS OF BLUBBER MAKES THE +POLE SEEM NEARER—AN ARCTIC TRAGEDY</p> + +<h3>VIII<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">Five Hundred Miles Through Night and Storm</span></h3> + + +<p>The early days of November were devoted to routine +work about Annoatok. Meat was gathered and +dried in strips by Francke; a full force of men were put +to the work of devising equipment; the women were +making clothing and dressing skins; and then a traveling +party was organized to go south to gather an additional +harvest of meat and skins and furs. For this purpose +we planned to take advantage of the November moon. +Thus, in the first week of the month, we were ready for +a five-hundred-mile run to the southern villages and to +the night-hunting grounds for walrus.</p> + +<p>A crack of whips explosively cut the taut, cold air. +The raucous, weird and hungry howl of the wolf-dogs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +replied: "<i>Ah-u-oo, Ah-u-oo, Ah-u-oo!</i>" rolled over +the ice; "<i>Huk-huk!</i>" the Eskimos shouted. There was a +sudden tightening of the traces of our seven sledges; +fifty lithe, strong bodies leaped forward; and, holding +the upstanders, the rear upright framework of the native +sledges, I and my six companions were off. In a few +moments the igloos of the village, with lights shining +through windows where animal membranes served as +glass, had sped by us. The cheering of the natives behind +was soon lost in the grind of our sledges on the irregular +ice and the joyous, unrestrained barking of the +leaping, tearing, restless dog-teams.</p> + +<p>To the south of us, a misty orange flush suffused +the dun-colored sky. The sun, which we had not seen +for an entire month, now late in November far below +the horizon, sent to us the dim radiance of a far-away +smile. After its setting it had, about noon time of each +day, set the sky faintly aglow, this radiance decreasing +until it was lost in the brightness of the midday moon. +Rising above the horizon, a suspended lamp of frosty, +pearl-colored glass, the moon for ten days of twenty-four +hours, each month, encircled about us, now lost +behind ice-sheeted mountains, again subdued under +colored films of frost clouds, but always relieving the +night of its gloom, and permitting, when the wind was +not too turbulent, outside activity.</p> + +<p>A wonderful animal is the sea-horse, or whale-horse, +as the Icelanders and Dutch (from whom we have +borrowed "walrus") call it. In the summer its life is +easy and its time is spent in almost perpetual sunny +dreams, but in winter it would be difficult to conceive +of a harder existence than its own. Finding food in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +shallow Polar seas, it comes to permanent open water, +or to the crevasses of an active pack for breath. With +but a few minutes' rest on a storm-swept surface, it explores, +without other relief for weeks, the double-night +darkness of unknown depths under the frozen sea. At +last, when no longer able to move its huge web feet, it +rises on the ice or seeks ice-locked waters for a needed +rest. In winter, the thump of its ponderous head keeps +the young ice from closing its breathing place. If on ice, +its thick skin, its blanket of blubber, and an automatic +shiver, keep its blood from hardening. This is man's +opportunity to secure meat and fuel, but the quest involves +a task to which no unaided paleface is equal. The +night hunt of the walrus is Eskimo sport, but it is nevertheless +sport of a most engaging and exciting order.</p> + +<p>So that I might not be compelled to start on my +dash stintedly equipped, we now prepared for such an +adventure by moonlight. Before this time there had +not been sufficient atmospheric stability and ice continuity +to promise comparative safety. My heart exulted +as I heard the crack of the whips in the electric +air and felt the earth rush giddily under my feet as I +leaped behind the speeding teams. The fever of the +quest was in my veins; its very danger lent an indescribable +thrill, for success now meant more to me than +perhaps hunting had ever meant to any man.</p> + +<p>Not long after we started, darkness descended. The +moon slowly passed behind an impenetrable curtain of +inky clouds; the orange glow of the sun faded; and we +were surrounded on every side by a blackness so thick +that it was almost palpable.</p> + +<p>As I now recall that mad race I marvel how we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +escaped smashing sledges, breaking our limbs, crushing +our heads. We tumbled and jumped in a frantic +race over the broken, irregular pack-ice from Annoatok +to Cape Alexander, a distance of thirty miles as the +raven moves, but more than forty miles as we follow the +sledge trail. Here the ice became thin; we felt cold mist +rising from open water; and now and then, in an occasional +breaking of the darkness, we could discern +vast sheets or snaky leads of open sea ahead of us.</p> + +<p>To reach the southern waters where the walrus were +to be found, we now had to seek an overland route, +which would take us over the frozen Greenland mountains +and lead us through the murky clouds, a route of +twisting detours, gashed glaciers, upturned barriers of +rock and ice, swept by blinding winds, unmarked by any +trail, and which writhed painfully beyond us for forty-seven +miles.</p> + +<p>Arriving at the limit of traversable sea-ice, we +now paused before sloping cliffs of glacial land-ice +which we had to climb. Picture to yourself a vast glacier +rising precipitously, like a gigantic wall, thousands +of feet above you, and creeping tortuously up its glassy, +purple face, if such that surface could be called, formed +by the piling of one glacial formation upon the other +in the descent through the valleys, a twisting, retreating +road of jagged ice strata, of earth and stone, +blocked here and there by apparently impassable impediments, +pausing at almost unscalable, frozen cliffs, +and at times no wider than a few yards. Imagine yourself +pausing, as we suddenly did, and viewing the perilous +ascent, the only way open to us, revealed in the +passing glimmer of the pale, circling moon, despair,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +fear and hope tugging at your heart. Whipped across +the sky by the lashing winds, the torn clouds, passing +the face of the moon, cast magnified and grotesquely +gesticulating shadows on the glistening face of the icy +Gibraltar before us. Some of these misty shapes +seemed to threaten, others shook their rag-like arms, +beckoning forward. Upon the face of the towering, +perpendicular ice-wall, great hummocks like the +gnarled black limbs of a huge tree twisted upwards.</p> + +<p>I realized that the frightful ascent must be made. +The goal of my single aim suddenly robbed the climb +of its terrors. I dropped my whip. Six other whips +cracked through the air. Koo-loo-ting-wah said, "<i>Kah-Kah!</i>" +(Come, come!) But Sotia said, "<i>Iodaria-Iodaria!</i>" +(Impossible, impossible!) The dogs emitted +shrill howls. Holding the rear upstanders of the +sledges, we helped to push them forward.</p> + +<p>Before us, the fifty dogs climbed like cats through +narrow apertures of the ice, or took long leaps over the +serried battlements that barred our way. We stumbled +after, sometimes we fell. Again we had to lift the +sledges after the dogs.</p> + +<p>From the top of the glacier a furious wind brushed +us backwards. We felt the steaming breath of the +laboring dogs in our faces. My heart thumped painfully. +Now and then the moon disappeared; we followed +the unfailing instinct of the animals. I realized +that a misstep might plunge me to a horrible death in +the ice abysm below. With a howl of joy from drivers, +the dogs finally leaped to the naked surface of the +wind-swept glacier. Panting in indescribable relief, +we followed. But the worst part of the journey lay<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +before us. The sable clouds, like the curtain of some +cyclopean stage, seemed suddenly drawn aside as if +by an invisible hand.</p> + +<p>Upon the illimitable stretch of ice rising before +us like the slopes of a glass mountain, the +full rays of the moon poured liquid silver. Only in +dreams had such a scene as this been revealed to me—in +dreams of the enchanted North—which did not now +equal reality. The spectacle filled me with both awed +delight and a sense of terror.</p> + +<p>Beyond the fan-shaped teams of dogs the eyes ran +over fields of night-blackened blue, gashed and broken +by bottomless canyons which twisted like purple serpents +in every direction. Vast expanses of smooth +surface, polished by the constant winds, reflected the +glow of the moon and gleamed like isles of silver in +a motionless, deep, sapphire sea; but all was covered +with the air of night. In the moonlight, the jagged irregular +contours of the broken ice became touched with +a burning gilt. A constant effect like running quicksilver +played about us as the moon sailed around the +heavens.</p> + +<p>Above us the ice pinnacles were lost in the clouds, +huge billowy masses that were blown in the wind +troublously, like the heavy black tresses of some Titan +woman. I thrilled with the beauty of the magical spectacle, +yet, when I viewed the perilous pathway, I felt +the grip of terror again at my heart.</p> + +<p>I was aroused from my brief reverie by the familiar +"<i>Huk-huk! Ah-gah! Ah-gah!</i>" of the Eskimos, and +placing our hands upon the sledges, we leaped forward +into the purple-gashed sea, with its blinding sheets of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +silver. I seemed carried through a world such as the +old Norsemen sang of in the sagas.</p> + +<p>Of a sudden, as though extinguished, the moonlight +faded, huge shadows leaped onto the ice before us, +frenziedly waved their arms and melted into the pitch-black +darkness which descended. I had read imaginative +tales of wanderings in the nether region of the +dead, but only now did I have a faint glimmering of +the terror (with its certain, exultant intoxication) +which lost souls must feel when they wander in a darkness +beset with invisible horrors.</p> + +<p>Over the ice, cut with innumerable chasms and +neck-breaking irregularities, we rushed in the dark. +The wind moaned down from the despairing cloud-enfolded +heights above; it tore through the bottomless +gullies on every side with a hungry roar. Beads of +perspiration rolled down my face and froze into icicles +on my chin and furs. The temperature was 48° below +zero.</p> + +<p>Occasionally we stopped a moment to gasp for +breath. I could hear the panting of my companions, +the labor of the dogs. A few seconds' inaction was +followed by convulsive shivering; the pain of stopping +was more excruciating than that of climbing. In the +darkness, the calls of the invisible Eskimos to the dogs +seemed like the weird appeals of disembodied things. I +felt each moment the imminent danger of a frightful +death; yet the dogs with their marvelous intuition, +twisting this way and that, and sometimes retreating, +sensed the open leads ahead and rushed forward safely.</p> + +<p>At times I felt the yawning depth of ice canyons +immediately by my side—that a step might plunge me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +into the depths. Desperately I held on to the sledges, +and was dragged along. Such an experience might +well turn the hair of the most expert Alpinist white in +one night; yet I did not have time to dwell fully upon +the dangers, and I was carried over a trip more perilous +than, later, proved the actual journey on sea-ice to the +Pole.</p> + +<p>Occasionally the moon peered forth from its clouds +and brightened the gloom. In its light the ice fields +swam dizzily by us, as a landscape seen from the window +of a train; the open gashed gullies writhed like +snakes, pinnacles dancing like silver spears. By alternate +running and riding we managed to keep from +freezing and sweating. We finally reached an altitude +of inland ice exceeding two thousand feet. Silver fog +crept under our feet. We were traveling now in a +world of clouds.</p> + +<p>We paced twelve miles at a rapid speed. In the +light of the moon-burned clouds which rolled about our +heads, I could see the forms of my companions only +indistinctly. The dogs ahead were veiled in the argent, +tremulous mists; the ice sped under me; I was no longer +conscious of an earthly footing; I might have been +soaring in space.</p> + +<p>We began to descend. Suddenly the dogs started +in leaps to fly through the air. Our sleds were jerked +into clouds of cutting snow. We jabbed our feet into +the drift to check the mad speed. On each side we saw +a huge mountain, seemingly thousands of feet above us, +but ahead was nothing but the void of empty space. +Soon the sledges shot beyond the dogs. We threw ourselves +off to check the momentum. With dog intelli<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>gence +and savage strength judiciously expended, we +reached the sea level by flying flights over dangerous +slopes, and, like cats, we landed on nimble feet in +Sontag Bay.</p> + +<p>A bivouac was arranged under a dome of snow-blocks, +and exhausted by the mad journey, a sleep of +twenty-four hours was indulged in.</p> + +<p>Now, for a time, our task was easier. A course +was set along the land, southward. Each of the native +settlements was visited. The season's gossip was exchanged. +Presents went into each household, and a +return of furs and useful products filled our sledges. +Thus the time was occupied in profitable visits during +the feeble light of the November moon. With the +December moon we returned northward to Ser-wah-ding-wah.</p> + +<p>Then our struggle began anew for the walrus +grounds. The Polar drift, forcing through Smith +Sound, left an open space of water about ten miles +south of Cape Alexander. This disturbed area was our +destination. It was marked by a dark cloud, a "water-sky"—against +the pearly glow of the southern heavens. +The ice surface was smooth. We did not encounter +the crushed heaps of ice of the northern route, but +there were frequent crevasses which, though cemented +with new ice, gave us considerable anxiety, for I realized +that if a northwesterly storm should suddenly strike +the pack we might be carried helplessly adrift.</p> + +<p>The urgency of our mission to secure dog food, +however, left no alternative. It was better to brave +death now, I thought, than to perish from scant supplies +on the Polar trip. We had not gone far before the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +ever-keen canine noses detected bear tracks on the ice. +These we shot over the pack surface in true battle spirit. +As the bears were evidently bound for the same hunting +grounds, this course was accepted as good enough +for us. Although the trail was laid in a circuitous +route, it avoided the most difficult pressure angles. We +traveled until late in the day. The moon was low, +and the dark purple hue of the night blackened the +snows.</p> + +<p>Of a sudden we paused. From a distance came +a low call of walrus bulls. The bass, nasal bellow was +muffled by the low temperature, and did not thump the +ear drums with the force of the cry in sunny summer. +My six companions shouted with glee, and became +almost hysterical with excitement. The dogs, hearing +the call, howled and jumped to jerk the sledges. We +dropped our whips, and they responded with all their +brute force in one bound. It was difficult to hold to +the sledges as we shot over the blackening snows.</p> + +<p>The ice-fields became smaller as we advanced; +dangerous thin ice intervened; but the owl-eyes of the +Eskimos knew just where to find safe ice. The sounds +increased as we approached. We descended from the +snow-covered ice to thin, black ice and for a time I +felt as if we were flying over the open surface of the +deep. With a low call, the dogs were stopped. They +were detached from the sledges and tied to holes drilled +with a knife in ice boulders.</p> + +<p>Pushing the sledges upon which rested the harpoon, +the lance, the gun and knives, each one of us +advanced at some distance from his neighbor. Soon, +lines of mist told of dangerous breaks, and the ice was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> +carefully tested with the spiked shaft before venturing +farther. I was behind Koo-loo-ting-wah's sledge. +While he was creeping up to the water's edge, there +came the rush of a spouting breath so near that we +seemed to feel the crystal spray. I took his place and +pushed the sledge along.</p> + +<p>Taking the harpoon, with stealthy strides Koo-loo-ting-wah +moved to the water's edge and waited for the +next spout. We heard other spouts in various directions, +and in the dark water, slightly lighted by the +declining moon, we saw other dark spots of spray. +Suddenly a burst of steam startled me. It was near +the ice where Koo-loo-ting-wah lay. I was about to +shout, but the Eskimo turned, held up his hand and +whispered "<i>Ouit-ou.</i>" (Wait.)</p> + +<p>Then, very slowly, he lowered his body, spread out +his form on the ice, and startlingly imitated the walrus +call. His voice preternaturally bellowed through +the night. Out of the inky water, a walrus lifted its +head. I saw its long, white, spiral, ivory tusk and two +phosphorescent eyes. Koo-loo-ting-wah did not stir. +I shivered with cold and impatience. Why did he not +strike? Our prey seemed within our hands. I uttered +an exclamation of vexed disappointment when, with a +splash, the head disappeared, leaving on the water a +line of algae fire.</p> + +<p>For several minutes I stood gazing seaward. Far +away on the black ocean, to my amazement, I saw +lights appearing like distant lighthouse signals, or the +mast lanterns on passing ships. They flashed and +suddenly faded, these strange will-o'-the wisps of the +Arctic sea. In a moment I realized that the lights were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +caused by distant icebergs crashing against one another. +On the bergs as on the surface of the sea, as it happened +now, were coatings of a teeming germ life, the same +which causes phosphorescence in the trail of an ocean +ship. The effect was indescribably weird.</p> + +<p>Suddenly I jumped backward, appalled by a noise +that reverberated shudderingly under the ice on which +I stood. The ice shook as if with an earthquake. I +hastily retreated, but Koo-loo-ting-wah, lying by the +water's edge, never stirred. A dead man could not have +been less responsive. While I was wondering as to the +cause of the upheaval, the ice, within a few feet of Koo-loo-ting-wah, +was suddenly torn asunder as if by a submarine +explosion. Koo-loo-ting-wah leaped into the +air and descended apparently toward the distending +space of turbulent open water. I saw him raise his arm +and deliver a harpoon with amazing dexterity; at the +same instant I had seen also the white tusk and phosphorescent +eyes of a walrus appear for a moment in the +black water and then sink.</p> + +<p>The harpoon had gone home; the line was run out; +a spiked lance shaft was driven into the ice through +a loop in the end of the line, and the line was thus +fastened. We knew the wounded beast would have to +rise for air. With rifle and lance ready, we waited, +intending, each time a spout of water arose, to drive +holes into the tough armor of skin until the beast's +vitals were tapped. By feeling the line, I could sense +the struggles of the wild creature below in the depths +of the sea. Then the line would slacken, a spout of +steam would rise from the water, Koo-loo-ting-wah +would drive a spear, I a shot from my gun. The air<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +would become oppressive with the creature's frightful +bellowing. Then would come an interval of silence.</p> + +<p>For about two hours we kept up the battle. Then +the line slackened, Koo-loo-ting-wah called the others, +and together we drew the huge carcass, steaming with +blood, to the surface of the ice. Smelling the odorous +wet blood, the dogs exultantly howled.</p> + +<p>Falling upon the animal, the natives, trained in +the art, with sharp knives had soon dressed the thick +meat and blubber from the bones and lashed the weltering +mass on a sledge. This done, with quick despatch, +they separated, dashed along the edge of the ice, casting +harpoons whenever the small geysers appeared on the +water. We were in excellent luck. One walrus after +another was dragged lumberingly on the ice, and in the +course of several hours the seven sledges were heavily +loaded with the precious supplies which would now +enable me, liberally equipped, to start Poleward. We +gave our dogs a light meal, and started landward, leaving +great piles of walrus meat behind us on the ice.</p> + +<p>Although we were tired on reaching land, we began +to build several snow-houses in which to sleep. Not far +away was an Eskimo village. Summoning the natives +to help us bring in the spoils of the hunt which had been +left on the ice, we first indulged in a gluttonous feast +of uncooked meat, in which the dogs ravenously joined. +The meat tasted like train-oil. The work of bringing +in the meat and blubber and caching it for subsequent +gathering was hardly finished when, from the ominous, +glacial-covered highlands, a winter blast suddenly began +to come with terrific and increasing fury.</p> + +<p>Blinding gusts of snow whipped the frozen earth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +The wind shrieked fiendishly. Above its roar, not three +hours after our last trip on the ice, a resounding, crashing +noise rose above the storm. Braving the blasts, I +went outside the igloo. Through the darkness I could +see white curvatures of piling sea-ice. I could hear the +rush and crashing of huge floes and glaciers being carried +seaward. Had we waited another day, had we been +out on the ice seeking walrus just twenty-four hours +after our successful hunt, we should have been carried +away in the sudden roaring gale, and hopelessly perished +in the wind-swept deep.</p> + +<p>During the night, or hours usually allotted to rest, +the noise continued unabated. I failed to sleep. Now +and then, a crashing noise shivered through the storm. +An igloo from the nearby settlement was swept into +the sea. During the gale many of the natives who had +retired with their clothes hung out to dry, awoke to +find that the wind had robbed them of their valuable +winter furs.</p> + +<p>Some time along in the course of the night, I +heard outside excited Eskimos shouting. There was +terror in the voices. Arising and dressing hastily, I +rushed into the teeth of the storm. Not far away were +a number of natives rushing along the land some +twenty feet beneath which the sea lapped the land-ice +with furious tongues. They had cast lines into the sea +and were shouting, it seemed, to someone who was +struggling in the hopeless, frigid tumult of water.</p> + +<p>I soon learned of the dreadful catastrophe. Ky-un-a, +an old and cautious native, awakened by the storm +a brief while before, after dressing himself, ventured +outside his stone house to secure articles which he had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +left there. As was learned later, he had just tied his +sledge to a rock when a gust of wind resistlessly rushed +seaward, lifted the aged man from his feet, and dropped +him into the sea. Through the storm, his dreadful +cries attracted his companions. Some who were now +tugging at the lines, were barely covered with fur rugs +which they had thrown about them, and their limbs +were partly bare. Now and then, a blinding gust of +wind, filled with freezing snow crystals, almost lifted +us from our feet. The sea lapped its tongues sickeningly +below us.</p> + +<p>Finally a limp body, ice-sheeted, dripping with +water, yet clinging with its mummied frozen hands to +the line, was hauled up on the ice. Ky-un-a, unconscious, +was carried to his house about five hundred feet +away. There, after wrapping him in furs, in a brave +effort to save his life, the natives cut open his fur garments. +The fur, frozen solid by the frigid blasts in the +brief period which had elapsed since his being lifted from +the water, took with it, in parting from his body, long +patches of skin, leaving the quivering raw flesh exposed +as though by a burn. For three days the aged man lay +dying, suffering excruciating tortures, the victim of +merely a common accident, which at any time may happen +to anyone of these Spartan people. I shall never +forget the harrowing moans of the suffering man piercing +the storm. Perhaps it had been merciful to let him +perish in the sea.</p> + +<p>Ky-un-a's old home was some forty miles distant. +To it, that he might die there, he desired to go. On the +fourth day after the accident, he was placed in a litter, +covered with warm furs, and borne over the smooth ice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>fields. +I shall never forget that dismal and solemn +procession. A benign calm prevailed over land and sea. +The orange glow of a luxurious moon set the ice coldly +aflame. Long shadows, like spectral mourners, robed +in purple, loomed before the tiny procession. Now and +then, as they dwindled in the distance, I saw them, like +black dots, crossing areas of polished ice which glowed +like mirror lakes of silver. From the distance, softly +shuddered the decreasing moans of the dying man; then +there was silence. I marvelled again upon the lure of +this eerily, weirdly beautiful land, where, always imminent, +death can be so terrible.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 563px;"> +<img src="images/illo_157.jpg" width="563" height="480" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p> +<h2>MIDNIGHT AND MID-WINTER</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">THE EQUIPMENT AND ITS PROBLEMS—NEW ART IN THE +MAKING OF SLEDGES COMBINING LIGHTNESS—PROGRESS +OF THE PREPARATIONS—CHRISTMAS, WITH ITS +GLAD TIDINGS AND AUGURIES FOR SUCCESS IN QUEST +OF THE POLE</p> + +<h3>IX<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">The Coming of the Eskimo Stork</span></h3> + + +<p>In planning for the Polar dash I appreciated fully +the vital importance of sledges. These, I realized, +must possess, to an ultimate degree, the combined +strength of steel with the lightness and elasticity of +the strongest wood. The sledge must neither be flimsy +nor bulky; nor should it be heavy or rigid. After a +careful study of the art of sledge-traveling from the +earliest time to the present day, after years of sledging +and sledge observation in Greenland, the Antarctic and +Alaska, I came to the conclusion that success was dependent, +not upon any one type of sledge, but upon +local fitness.</p> + +<p>All natives of the frigid wilds have devised sledges, +traveling and camp equipment to fit their local needs. +The collective lessons of ages are to be read in this development +of primitive sledge traveling. If these wild +people had been provided with the best material from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +which to work out their hard problems of life, then it is +probable that their methods could not be improved. +But neither the Indian nor the Eskimo was ever in +possession of either the tools or the raw material to fit +their inventive genius for making the best equipment. +Therefore, I had studied first the accumulated results +of the sledge of primitive man and from this tried to +construct a sledge with its accessories in which were included +the advantages of up-to-date mechanics with the +use of the most durable material which a search of the +entire globe had afforded me.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>The McClintock sledges, made of bent wood with +wide runners, had been adopted by nearly all explorers, +under different names and with considerable modifications, +for fifty years. This sledge is still the best type +for deep soft snow conditions, for which it was originally +intended. But such snow is not often found on +the ice of the Polar sea. The native sledge which Peary +copied, although well adapted to local use along the ice-foot +and the land-adhering pack, is not the best sledge +for a trans-boreal run. This is because it is too heavy +and too easily broken, and breakable in such a way that +it cannot be quickly repaired.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p> + +<p>For the Arctic pack, a sledge must be of a moderate +length, with considerable width. Narrow runners offer +less friction and generally give sufficient bearing surface. +The other qualities vital to quick movement and +durability are lightness, elasticity and interchangeability +of parts. All of these conditions I planned to meet in +a new pattern of sledge which should combine the durability +of the Eskimo sledges and the lightness of the +Yukon sledge of Alaska.</p> + +<p>The making of a suitable sledge caused me a good +deal of concern. Before leaving New York I had +taken the precaution of selecting an abundance of the +best hickory wood in approximately correct sizes for +sledge construction. Suitable tools had also been provided. +Now, as the long winter with its months of +darkness curtailed the time of outside movement, the +box-house was refitted as a workshop. From eight to +ten men were at the benches, eight hours each day, +shaping and bending runners, fitting and lashing interchangeable +cross bars and posts, and riveting the iron +shoes. Thus the sledge parts were manufactured to +possess the same facilities to fit not only all other +sledges, but also other parts of the same sledge. If, +therefore, part of a sledge should be broken, other parts +of a discarded sledge could offer repair sections easily.</p> + +<p>The general construction of this new sledge is +easily understood from the various photographs presented. +All joints were made elastic by seal-thong +lashings. The sledges were twelve feet long and thirty +inches wide; the runners had a width of an inch and an +eighth. Each part and each completed sledge was +thoroughly tested before it was finally loaded for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +long run. For dog harness, the Greenland Eskimo +pattern was adopted. But canine habits are such +that when rations are reduced to minimum limits +the leather strips disappear as food. To obviate this +disaster, the shoulder straps were made of folds of +strong canvas, while the traces were cut from cotton +log line.</p> + +<p>A boat is an important adjunct to every sledge +expedition which hopes to venture far from its base +of operations. It is a matter of necessity, even when +following a coast line, as was shown by the mishap of +Mylius Erickson, for if he had had a boat he would +himself have returned to tell the story of the Danish +Expedition to East Greenland.</p> + +<p>Need for a boat comes with the changing conditions +of the advancing season. Things must be carried +for several months for a chance use in the last stages +of the return. But since food supplies are necessarily +limited, delay is fatal, and therefore, when open water +prevents advance, a boat is so vitally necessary as to +become a life preserver. Foolish indeed is the explorer +who pays slight attention to this important problem.</p> + +<p>The transportation of a boat, however, offers many +serious difficulties. Nansen introduced the kayak, and +most explorers since have followed his example. The +Eskimo canoe serves the purpose very well, but to carry +it for three months without hopeless destruction requires +so tremendous an amount of energy as to make +the task practically impossible.</p> + +<p>Sectional boats, aluminum boats, skin floats and +other devices had been tried, but to all there is the same +fatal objection on a Polar trip, of impossible trans<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>portation. +But it seems odd that the ordinary folding +canvas boat has not been pressed into this service.</p> + +<p>We found such a canoe boat to fit the situation +exactly, and selected a twelve-foot Eureka-shaped boat +with wooden frame. The slats, spreaders and floor-pieces +were utilized as parts of sledges. The canvas +cover served as a floor cloth for our sleeping bags. Thus +the boat did useful service for a hundred days and never +seemed needlessly cumbersome. When the craft was +finally spread for use as a boat, in it we carried the +sledge, in it we sought game for food, and in it or under +it we camped. Without it we could never have returned.</p> + +<p>Even more vital than the choice of sledges, more +vital than anything else, I knew, in such a trip as I +proposed, is the care of the stomach. From the published +accounts of Arctic traveling it is impossible to +learn a fitting ration, and I hasten to add that I well +realized that our own experience may not solve the +problem for future expeditions. The gastronomic +need differs with every man. It differs with every expedition, +and it is radically different with every nation. +Thus, when De Gerlache, with good intentions, forced +Norwegian food into French stomachs, he learned that +there is a nationality in gastronomics. Nor is it safe +to listen to scientific advice, for the stomach is arbitrary, +and stands as autocrat over every human sense and +passion and will not easily yield to dictates.</p> + +<p>In this respect, as in others, I was helped very +much by the natives. The Eskimo is ever hungry, but +his taste is normal. Things of doubtful value in nutrition +form no part in his dietary. Animal food, con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>sisting +of meat and fat, is entirely satisfactory as a +steady diet without other adjuncts. His food requires +neither salt nor sugar, nor is cooking a matter of necessity.</p> + +<p>Quantity is important, but quality applies only +to the relative proportion of fat. With this key to +gastronomics, pemmican was selected as the staple food, +and it would also serve equally well for the dogs.</p> + +<p>We had an ample supply of pemmican, which was +made of pounded dried beef, sprinkled with a few +raisins and some currants, and slightly sweetened with +sugar. This mixture was cemented together with +heated beef tallow and run into tin cans containing six +pounds each.</p> + +<p>This combination was invented by the American +Indian, and the supply for this expedition was made by +Armour of Chicago after a formula furnished by Captain +Evelyn B. Baldwin. Pemmican had been used before +as part of the long list of foodstuffs for Arctic expeditions, +but with us there was the important difference +that it was to be almost entirely the whole bill of fare +when away from game haunts. The palate surprises +in our store were few.</p> + +<p>By the time Christmas approached I had reason +indeed for rejoicing. Although this happy season +meant little to me as a holiday of gift-giving and feasting, +it came with auguries for success in the thing my +heart most dearly desired, and compared to which earth +had nothing more alluring to give.</p> + +<p>Our equipment was now about complete. In the +box house were tiers of new sledges, rows of boxes and +piles of bags filled with clothing, canned supplies,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +dried meat, and sets of strong dog harness. The +food, fuel and camp equipment for the Polar dash were +ready. Everything had been thoroughly tested and put +aside for a final examination. Elated by our success, +and filled with gratitude to the faithful natives, I declared +a week of holidays, with rejoicing and feasting. +Feasting was at this time especially desirable, for we +had now to fatten up for the anticipated race.</p> + +<p>Christmas day in the Arctic does not dawn with the +glow which children in waking early to seek their bedecked +tree, view outside their windows in more southern +lands. Both Christmas day and Christmas night +are black. Only the stars keep their endless watch in +the cold skies.</p> + +<p>Standing outside my igloo on the happy night, I +gazed at the Pole Star, the guardian of the goal I +sought, and I remembered with a thrill the story of that +mysterious star the Wise Men had followed, of the +wonders to which it led them, and I felt an awed reverence +for the Power that set these unfaltering beacons +above the earth and had written in their golden traces, +with a burning pen, veiled and unrevealed destinies +which men for ages have tried to learn.</p> + +<p>I retired to sleep with thoughts of home. I thought +of my children, and the bated expectancy with which +they were now going to bed, of their hopefulness of the +morrow, and the unbounded joy they would have in gifts +to which I could not contribute. I think tears that +night wet my pillow of furs. But I would give them, +if I did not fail, the gift of a father's achievement, of +which, with a glow, I felt they should be proud.</p> + +<p>The next morning the natives arrived at the box<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> +house early. It had been cleared of seamstresses and +workmen the day before, and put in comparatively +spick and span order. I had told the natives they were +to feed to repletion during the week of holiday, an injunction +to the keeping of which they did not need +much urging.</p> + +<p>Early Christmas morning, men and women began +working overtime on the two festive meals which were +to begin that day and continue daily.</p> + +<p>About this time, the most important duty of our +working force had been to uncover caches and dig up +piles of frozen meat and blubber. Of this, which possesses +the flavor and odor of Limburger cheese, and also +the advantage, if such it be, of intoxicating them, the +natives are particularly fond. While a woman held a +native torch of moss dipped in oils and pierced with a +stick, the men, by means of iron bars and picks, dug up +boulders of meat just as coal is forced from mines.</p> + +<p>A weird spectacle was this, the soft light of the +blubber lamp dancing on the spotless snows, the soot-covered +faces of the natives grinning while they worked. +The blubber was taken close to their igloos and placed +on raised platforms of snow, so as to be out of reach +of the dogs. Of this meat and blubber, which was +served raw, partially thawed, cooked and also frozen, +the natives partook during most of their waking hours. +They enjoyed it, indeed, as much as turkey was being +relished in my far-away home.</p> + +<p>Moreover they had, what was an important delicacy, +native ice cream. This would not, of course, +please the palate of those accustomed to the American +delicacy, but to the Eskimo maiden it possesses all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +lure of creams, sherberts or ice cream sodas. With us, +sugar in the process of digestion turns into fat, and fat +into body fuel. The Eskimo, having no sugar, yearns +for fat, and it comes with the taste of sweets.</p> + +<p>The making of native ice cream is quite a task. I +watched the process of making it Christmas day with +amused interest. The native women must have a mixture +of oils from the seal, walrus and narwhal. Walrus +and seal blubber is frozen, cut into strips, and +pounded with great force so as to break the fat cells. +This mass is now placed in a stone pot and heated to +the temperature of the igloo, when the oil slowly separates +from the fibrous pork-like mass. Now, tallow from +the suet of the reindeer or musk ox is secured, cut into +blocks and given by the good housewife to her daughters, +who sit in the igloo industriously chewing it until +the fat cells are crushed. This masticated mass is placed +in a long stone pot over the oil flame, and the tallow +reduced from it is run into the fishy oil of the walrus +or seal previously prepared.</p> + +<p>This forms the body of native ice cream. For +flavoring, the housewife has now a variety from which +to select. This usually consists of bits of cooked meat, +moss flowers and grass. Anticipating the absence of +moss and grass in the winter, the natives, during the +hunting season, take from the stomachs of reindeer and +musk oxen which are shot, masses of partly digested +grass which is preserved for winter use. This, which +has been frozen, is now chipped in fragments, thawed, +and, with bits of cooked meats, is added to the mixed +fats. It all forms a paste the color of pistache, with occasional +spots like crushed fruit.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> + +<p>The mixture is lowered to the floor of the igloo, +which, in winter, is always below the freezing point, and +into it is stirred snow water. The churned composite +gradually brightens and freezes as it is beaten. When +completed, it looks very much like ice cream, but it has +the flavor of cod liver oil, with a similar odor. Nevertheless, +it has nutritive qualities vastly superior to our +ice cream, and stomach pains rarely follow an engorgement.</p> + +<p>With much glee, the natives finished their Christmas +repast with this so-called delicacy. For myself a +tremendous feast was prepared, consisting of food left +by the yacht and the choicest meat from the caches. My +menu consisted of green turtle soup, dried vegetables, +caviar on toast, olives, Alaskan salmon, crystallized potatoes, +reindeer steak, buttered rice, French peas, apricots, +raisins, corn bread, Huntley and Palmer biscuits, +cheese and coffee.</p> + +<p>As I sat eating, I thought with much humor of +the curious combinations of caviar and reindeer steak, +of the absurd contradiction in eating green turtle soup +beyond the Arctic circle. I ate heartily, with more +gusto than I ever partook of delicious food in the Waldorf +Astoria in my far-away home city. After dinner +I took a long stroll on snow shoes. As I looked at the +star-lamps swung in heaven, I thought of Broadway, +with its purple-pale strings of lights, and its laughing +merry-makers on this festive evening.</p> + +<p>I did not, I confess, feel lonely. I seemed to be +getting something so much more wholesome, so much +more genuine from the vast expanse of snow and the +unhidden heavens which, in New York, are seldom seen.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +Returning to the box-house, I ended Christmas evening +with Edgar Allen Poe and Shakespeare as companions.</p> + +<p>The box-house in which I lived was amply comfortable. +It did not possess the luxury of a civilized +house, but in the Arctic it was palatial. The interior +fittings had changed somewhat from time to time, but +now things were arranged in a permanent setting. The +little stove was close to the door. The floor measured +sixteen feet in length and twelve feet in width. On one +side the empty boxes of the wall made a pantry, on the +other side were cabinets of tools, and unfinished sledge +and camp material.</p> + +<p>With a step we rose to the next floor. On each +side was a bunk resting on a bench. The bench was +used as a bed, a work bench and seat. The long rear +bench was utilized as a sewing table for the seamstresses +and also for additional seating capacity. In the center +was a table arranged around a post which supported +the roof. Sliding shelves from the bunks formed table +seats. A yacht lamp fixed to the post furnished ample +light. There was no other furniture. All of our needs +were conveniently placed in the open boxes of the wall.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 541px;"> +<img src="images/illo_169.jpg" width="541" height="800" alt="THE CAPTURE OF A BEAR +ROUNDING UP A HERD OF MUSK OXEN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE CAPTURE OF A BEAR<br /> +ROUNDING UP A HERD OF MUSK OXEN</span> +</div> + +<p>The closet room therefore was unlimited. In the +boxes near the floor, in which things froze hard, the +perishable supplies were kept. In the next tier there +was alternate freezing and thawing. Here we stored +lashings and skins that had to be kept moist. The tiers +above, usually warm and dry under the roof, were used +for various purposes. There, fresh meat in strips, dried +crisp in three days. Taking advantage of this, we had +made twelve hundred pounds of dog pemmican from +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> +walrus meat. In the gable we placed furs and instruments.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_170.jpg" width="640" height="429" alt="CAMPING FIVE HUNDRED MILES FROM THE POLE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">SVARTEVOEG—CAMPING FIVE HUNDRED MILES FROM THE POLE</span> +</div> + +<p>The temperature changed remarkably as the thermometer +was lifted. On the floor in the lower boxes, +it fell as low as -20°. Under the bunks on the floor, it +was usually -10°. The middle floor space was above +the freezing point. At the level of the bunk the temperature +was +48°. At the head, standing, +70°, and +under the roof, -105°.</p> + +<p>We contrived to keep perfectly comfortable. Our +feet and legs were always dressed for low temperature, +while the other portions of our body were lightly clad. +There was not the usual accumulation of moisture except +in the lower boxes, where it reinforced the foundation +of the structure and did no harm. From the hygienic +standpoint, with the material at hand, we could +not have improved the arrangement. The ventilation +was by small openings, mostly along the corners, which +thus drew heat to remote angles. The value of the long +stove pipe was made evident by the interior accumulation +of ice. If we did not remove the ice every three or four +days the draft was closed by atmospheric humidity condensed +from the draft drawn through the fire. From +within, the pipe was also a splendid supplementary +heater, as it led by a circuitous route about the vestibule +before the open air was reached, thus keeping the workshop +somewhat warm. Two Eskimo lamps gave the +added heat and light for the sledge builders.</p> + +<p>From Christmas Day until New Year's there were +daily feasts for the natives. I luxuriated in a long rest, +spending my time taking walks and reading. I got a +sort of pleasure by proxy in watching the delight of these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +primal people in real food, food which, although to us +horribly unpalatable, never gives indigestion. This +period was one of real Christmas rejoicing in many snow +homes, and the spirit, although these people had never +heard of the Christ child, was more truly in keeping with +this holiday than it often is in lands where, in ostentatious +celebration, the real meaning is lost.</p> + +<p>Wandering from igloo to igloo, to extend greetings +and thanks for their faithful work, I was often touched +by the sounds of thin, plaintive voices in the darkness. +Each time a pang touched my heart, and I remembered +the time when I first heard my own baby girl's wee +voice. The little ones had begun to arrive. The Eskimo +stork, at igloo after igloo, was leaving its Christmas +gift.</p> + +<p>For some time before Christmas, Cla-you, easily +our best seamstress, had not come for her assignment +of sewing. To her had been given the delicate +task of making hare skin stockings; but she had lost +interest in needle-work and complained of not feeling +well. E-ve-lue (Mrs. Sinue) was completing her task. +Ac-po-di-soa (the big bird), Cla-you's husband, whom +we called Bismark, had also deserted the bench where +he had been making sledges. For his absence there was +no explanation, for neither he nor his wife had ever +shirked duties before. To solve the mystery I went to +his igloo during Christmas week. There I first got +news from the stork world. The boreal stork comes at +a special season of the year, usually a few weeks after +midnight when there is little else to interest the people. +This season comes nine months after the days of +budding passions in April, the first Arctic month of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +the year when all the world is happy. In the little +underground home, the anticipated days of the stork +visit were made interesting by a long line of preparations.</p> + +<p>A prospective mother is busy as a bee in a +charming effort to make everything new for the +coming little one. All things about must be absolutely +new if possible. Even a new house must be built. This +places the work of preparation quite as much on the +father as on the mother. There is in all this a splendid +lesson in primitive hygiene.</p> + +<p>To examine, first, the general home environment; +there is a little girl four years old still taking nature's +substitute for the bottle. She looks about for a meaning +of all the changes about the home, but does not +understand. You enter the new house on hands and +knees through an entrance twelve or fifteen feet long, +crowding upwards into an ever-open door just large +enough to pass the shoulders. You rise into a dungeon +oblong in shape. The rear two-thirds of this is raised +about fifteen inches and paved with flat-rock. Upon +this the furs are spread for a bed. The forward edge +forms a seat. The space ahead of this is large enough +for three people to stand at once. On each side there +is a semi-circular bulge. In these are placed the crescent-shaped +stone dishes, in which moss serves as a wick +to burn blubber. Over this blubber flame, there is a +long stone pot in which snow is melted for water and +meats are occasionally cooked. Over this there is a +drying rack for boots and furs. There is no other +furniture. This house represents the home of the Eskimo +family at its best. Do what she will, the best house<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>wife +cannot free it of oil and soot. It is not, indeed, a +fit place for the immaculate stork to come.</p> + +<p>For months, the finest furs have been gathered to +prepare a new suit for the mother. Slowly one article +of apparel after another has been completed and put +aside. The boots, called <i>kamik</i>, are of sealskin, bleached +to a spotless cream color. They reach halfway up +the thigh. The inner boot, called <i>atesha</i>, of soft caribou +fur, is of the same length; along its upper edge there is +a decorative run of white bear fur. The silky fur pads +protect the tender skin of limb and foot, for no stockings +are used. Above these, there are dainty little pants +of white and blue fox, to protect the body to a point +under the hips, and for protection above that there is a +shirt of birdskins or <i>aht-tee</i>. This is the most delicate of +all garments. Hundreds of little auk skins are gathered, +chewed and prepared, and as the night comes the garment +is built blouse-shaped, with hood attached. It fits +loosely. There are no buttons or openings. For the +little one, the hood is enlarged and extended down the +back, as the pocket for its future abode. The coat of +fine blue fox skins, or <i>amoyt</i>, is of the same shape, but +fits loosely over all.</p> + +<p>The word <i>amoyt</i>, or <i>amoyt docsoa</i>, in its application, +also covers the entire range of the art and function +of pregnancy. This is regarded as an institution +of the first order, second only to the art of the chase. +All being ready for the mother, for the baby only a +hood is provided, while bird-skins and grass are provided +to take the place of absorbent cotton. For the first year, +the child has absolutely no other wrap or cover but its +little hood.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Eskimo loves children. If the stork does not +come in due time, he is likely to change his life partner. +For this reason he looks forward to the Christmas season +with eager anticipation. Seeking the wilds far and +near for needed furs, in bitter winds and driving snows, +he endures all kinds of hardships during the night of +months for the sake of the expected child. Brave, good +little man of iron, he fears nothing.</p> + +<p>From a near-by bank of hard snow he cuts blocks +for a new igloo. In darkness and wind he transports +them to a point near the house. When enough have +been gathered, he walls a dome like a bee-hive. The interior +arrangement is like the winter underground home. +The light is put into it. By this he can see the open +cracks between snow blocks. These are filled in to keep +wind and snow out. When all is completed, he cuts a +door and enters. The bed of snow is flattened.</p> + +<p>Then he seeks for miles about for suitable grass +to cover the cheerless ice floor. To get this grass, he +must dig under fields of hardened snow. Even then he +is not always rewarded with success. The sledge, loaded +with frozen grass, is brought to the little snow dome. +The grass is carefully laid on the bed of leveled snow. +Over it new reindeer skins are spread. Now the new +house of snow blocks in which the stork is to come is +ready.</p> + +<p>As the stork's coming is announced the mother's +tears give the signal. She goes to the new snowhouse +alone. The father is frightened and looks serious. But +she must tear herself away. With her new garments, +she enters the dark chamber of the snowhouse, strikes +a fire, lights the lamp. The spotless walls of snow are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> +cheerful. The new things about give womanly pride. +But life is hard for her. A soul-stirring battle follows +in that den of ice.</p> + +<p>There is a little cry. But there is no doctor, no +nurse, no one, not a kindly hand to help. A piece of +glass is used as a surgical knife. Then all is over. There +is no soap, no water. The methods of a mother cat are +this mother's. Then, in the cold, cheerless chamber of +ice, she fondly examines the little one. Its eyes are blue, +but they turn brown at once when opened. Its hair +is coal black, its skin is golden. It is turned over and +over in the search for marks or blemishes. The +mother's eyes run down along the tiny spine. At its +end there is a blue shield-shaped blot like a tattoo mark. +This is the Eskimo guarantee of a well-bred child. If +it is there, the mother is happy, if not, there are doubts +of the child's future, and of the purity of the parents. +Now the father and the grandmother come. All rejoice.</p> + +<p>If misfortune at the time of birth befalls a mother, +as is not infrequent, the snow mound becomes her grave; +it is not opened for a long time.</p> + +<p>After a long sleep, into which the mother falls after +her first joy, she awakes, turns over, drinks some ice-water, +eats a little half-cooked meat, and then, shaking +the frozen breath from the covers, she wraps herself +and her babe snugly in furs. Again she sleeps, perhaps +twenty-four hours, seemingly in perfect comfort, while +the life-stilling winter winds drive over the feeble wall +of snow which shelters her from the chilly death outside.</p> + +<p>One day during Christmas week there was a knock +at our door. The proud Ac-po-di-soa walked in, fol<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>lowed +by his smiling wife, with the sleeping stork gift +on her back. The child had been born less than five +days before. We walked over and admired the little +one. It suddenly opened its brown eyes, screwed up +its little blubber nose, and wrinkled its chin for a cry. +The mother grabbed her, plunged out of the door, +pulled the undressed infant out, and in the wind and +cold served the little one's want.</p> + +<p>New Year's Day came starlit and cold. The year +had dawned in which I was to essay the task to which +I had set myself, the year which would mean success or +failure to me. The past year had been gracious and +bountiful, so, in celebration, Francke prepared a feast +of which we both ate to gluttonous repletion. This +consisted of ox-tail soup, creamed boneless cod, pickles, +scrambled duck eggs with chipped smoked beef, roast +eider-duck, fresh biscuits, crystallized potatoes, creamed +onions, Bayo beans and bacon, Malaga grapes, +(canned), peach-pie, blanc-mange, raisin cake, Nabisco +biscuits and steaming chocolate.</p> + +<p>The day was spent in making calls among the +Eskimos. In the evening several families were given +a feast which was followed by songs and dances. This +hilarity was protracted to the early hours of morning +and ended in an epidemic of night hysteria. When thus +afflicted the victims dance and sing and fall into a trance, +the combination of symptoms resembling insanity.</p> + +<p>In taking account of our stock we found that our +baking powder was about exhausted. This was sad +news, for a breakfast of fresh biscuits, butter and coffee +was one of the few delights that remained for me in +life. We had bicarbonate of soda, but no cream of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +tartar. I wondered whether we could not substitute for +cream of tartar some other substance.</p> + +<p>Curious experiments followed. The juice of sauerkraut +was tried with good results. But the flavor, as a +steady breakfast food, was not desirable. Francke had +fermented raisins with which to make wine. As a wine +it was a failure, but as a fruit acid it enabled us to make +soda biscuits with a new and delicate flavor. Milk, we +found, would also ferment. From the unsweetened +condensed milk, biscuits were made that would please +the palate of any epicure. My breakfast pleasure therefore +was still assured for many days to come.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> +<h2>EN ROUTE FOR THE POLE</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">THE CAMPAIGN OPENS—LAST WEEKS OF THE POLAR +NIGHT—ADVANCE PARTIES SENT OUT—AWAITING +THE DAWN</p> + +<h3>X<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">The Start with Sunrise of 1908</span></h3> + + +<p>Two weeks of final tests and re-examination of +clothing, sledges and general equipment followed the +New Year's festivities. On January 14 there was +almost an hour of feeble twilight at midday. The moon +offered light enough to travel. Now we were finally +ready to fire the first guns of the Polar battle. Scouts +were outside, waiting for the signal to proceed. They +were going, not only to examine the ice field for the +main advance, but to offer succor to a shipwrecked crew, +which the natives believed was at Cape Sabine.</p> + +<p>The smoke of a ship had been seen late in the fall, +and much wood from a wrecked ship had been found. +The pack was, therefore, loaded with expedition supplies, +with instructions to offer help to anyone in want +that might be found.</p> + +<p>I had just finished a note to be left at Cape +Sabine, telling of our headquarters, our caches and +our willingness to give assistance. This was handed to +Koo-loo-ting-wah, standing before his restless dogs,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> +whip in hand, as were his three companions, who volunteered +as scouts. They jumped on the sledges, and soon +the dogs were rushing toward the Polar pack of Smith +Sound.</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful day. A fold of the curtain of +night had been lifted for a brief spell. A strong mixed +light, without shadows, rested on the snow. It changed +in quality and color with the changing mystery of the +aurora. One might call it blue, or purple, or violet, or +no color at all, according to the color perception of the +observer.</p> + +<p>In the south the heavens glowed with the heralds +of the advancing sun. The light was exaggerated by +the blink of the ice over which the light was sent, for the +brightness of the heavens was out of proportion to its +illuminating effect upon the surface snows. In the +north, the half-spent moon dispelled the usual blackness +Poleward, while the zenith was lighted with stars of the +first and second magnitude.</p> + +<p>The temperature was -41° F. The weather was +perfectly calm—all that could be expected for the important +event of opening the campaign.</p> + +<p>In the course of a few hours the cheerful light +faded, the snows darkened to earthy fields, and out of +the north came a smoky tempest. The snow soon piled +up in tremendous drifts, making it difficult to leave the +house without climbing new hills. The dogs tied about +were buried in snow. Only the light passing through +the membrane of intestines, which was spread over the +ports to make windows for the native houses, relieved +the fierce blackness.</p> + +<p>The run to Cape Sabine, under fine conditions, was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +about forty miles, and could be made in one day, but +Smith Sound seldom offers a fair chance. Insufficient +light, impossible winds or ice make the crossing hazardous +at best. The Eskimos cross every year, but +they are out so much after bears that they have a good +knowledge of the ice before they start to reach the other +shores.</p> + +<p>Coming from the north, with a low temperature +and blowing snow, the wind would not only stop our +scouts, but force the ice south, leaving open spaces of +water. A resulting disruption of the pack might greatly +delay our start with heavy sledges. Furthermore, +there was real danger at hand for the advance. If the +party had been composed of white men there surely +would have been a calamity. But the Eskimo +approaches the ventures of the wild with splendid endurance. +Moreover, he has a weather intelligence which +seldom finds him unprepared.</p> + +<p>At midnight of the second night the party returned. +They were none the worse for the storm. The main +intent of their mission had failed. The storm had forced +them into snow embankments, and before it was quite +spent a bear began to nose about their shelter places. +The dogs were so buried with drift that they were not on +watch until the bear had destroyed much of their food. +Then their mad voices aroused the Eskimos.</p> + +<p>As they dug out of their shelter, the bear took a big +walrus leg and walked off, man-like, holding the meat in +his forepaws. In their haste to free the dogs, they cut +their harness to pieces, for snow and ice cemented the +creatures. Oo-tah ran out in the excitement to head +off the bear—not to make an attack, but simply to stop<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> +his progress. The bear dropped the meat and grabbed +Oo-tah by the seat of his trousers. The dogs, fortunately, +came along in time to save Oo-tah's life, but he +had received a severe leg wound, which required immediate +surgical attention.</p> + +<p>The bear was captured, and with loads of bear meat +and the wounded scout the party returned as quickly as +possible. In the retreat it was noticed that the ice was +very much broken.</p> + +<p>In the wreck of an Arctic storm there is always a +subsequent profit for someone. The snow becomes +crusted and hardened, making sledge travel easy. The +breaking of the ice, which was a great hindrance to our +advance, offered open water for walrus and bear hunting. +At this time we went to Serwahdingwah for the +last chase. Some of the Eskimos took their families, +so Annoatok became depopulated for a while. But on +our return, visitors came in numbers too numerous for +our comfort.</p> + +<p>Dogs and skins, bargained for earlier in the season, +were now delivered. Each corps of excursionists required +some attention, for they had done noble work for +the expedition. We gave them dinners and allowed +them to sit about our stove with picture-books in hand.</p> + +<p>Another storm came, with still more violent force, +a week later. This caused us much anxiety, for we +counted on our people being scattered on the ice along +the shores of Cape Alexander. In a storm this would +probably be swept from the land and carried seaward. +There was nothing that could be done except wait for +news. Messengers of trouble were not long in reaching +headquarters after the storm. None of the men were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> +on the ice, but a hurricane from the land had wrecked +the camps.</p> + +<p>Our men suffered little, but many of the natives in +neighboring villages were left without clothing or sleeping +furs. In the rush of the storm the ice left the land, +and the snowhouses were swept into the sea. Men and +women, without clothing, barely escaped with their lives. +Two of our new sledges, some dogs, and three suits of +winter furs were lost. A rescue party with furs had to +be sent to the destitute people. Fortunately, our people +were well supplied with bed-furs, out of which new +suits were made.</p> + +<p>Sledge loads of our furs were also coming north, +and instructions were sent to use these for the urgent +needs of the sufferers. Other things were sent from +Annoatok, with returning excursionists, and in the +course of a week the damage was replaced. But the +loss was all on the expedition, and deprived many of the +men in their northern journey of suitable sleeping-furs. +Walruses were obtained after the storm, and the natives +now had no fear of a famine of meat or fat.</p> + +<p>By the end of January most of the natives had returned, +and new preparations were made for a second +effort to cross the Sound. Francke asked to join the +party, and prepared for his first camp outing. Four +sledges were loaded with two hundred pounds each of +expedition advance supplies. Four good drivers volunteered +to move the sledges to the American side.</p> + +<p>The light had gradually brightened, and the storms +passed off and left a keen, cold air, which was as clear as +crystal. But at best the light was still feeble, and could +be used for only about four hours of each twenty-four.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +If, however, the sky remained clear, the moon and stars +would furnish enough illumination for a full day's travel. +There was a little flush of color in the southern skies, +and the snows were a pale purple as the sledges groaned +in their rush over the frosty surface.</p> + +<p>The second party started off as auspiciously as the +first, and news of its luck was eagerly awaited.</p> + +<p>They reached Cape Sabine after a long run of +twenty hours, making a considerable detour to the north. +The ice offered good traveling, but the cold was bitter, +the temperature being -52° F., with light, extremely +humid and piercing winds.</p> + +<p>Along the land and within the bays the snow was +found to be deep, and a bitter wind came from the west. +Two of the party could not be persuaded to go farther, +but Francke, with two companions, pushed on for another +day along the shore to Cape Veile. Beyond, the +snow was too deep to proceed. The supplies were cached +in a snowhouse, while those at Cape Sabine were left in +the old camp. The party returned at the end of four +days with their object accomplished. Nothing was seen +of the rumored shipwrecked crew.</p> + +<p>The next party, of eight sledges, led by Es-se-you, +Kud-la, and Me-tek, started on February 5. The +object was to carry advance supplies to the head of +Flagler Bay, and hunt musk ox to feed the sledge teams +as they moved overland. We were to meet this party at +an appointed place in the bay.</p> + +<p>The light was still too uncertain to risk the fortunes +of the entire force. With a hundred dogs, a delay of a +day would be an expensive loss, for if fed upon the carefully +guarded food of the advance stores, a rapid reduc<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>tion +in supplies would follow, which could not be replaced, +even if abundant game were secured later. It +was, therefore, desirable to await the rising sun.</p> + +<p>We made our last arrangements, fastened our last +packs, and waited impatiently for the sunrise, here at +this northernmost outpost of human life, just seven hundred +miles from the Pole. And this was the problem +that now insistently and definitely confronted us after +the months of planning and preparation: Seven hundred +miles of advance, almost a thousand miles as our +route was planned; one thousand miles of return; two +thousand miles in all; allowing for detours (for the line +to be followed could not be precisely straight), more +than two thousand miles of struggling travel across icy +and unknown and uninhabitable wastes of moving ice.</p> + +<p>On the morning of February 19, 1908, I started on +my trip to the North Pole.</p> + +<p>Early, as the first real day of the year dawned, +eleven sledges were brought to the door of our box-house +and lashed with supplies for the boreal dash. +There were four thousand pounds of supplies for use on +the Polar sea, and two thousands pounds of walrus skin +and fat for use before securing the fresh game we anticipated. +The eleven sledges were to be driven by +Francke, nine Eskimos, and myself. They were drawn +by one hundred and three dogs, each in prime condition. +The dogs had been abundantly fed with walrus +skin and meat for several weeks, and would now be fed +only every second day on fresh supplies.</p> + +<p>My heart was high. I was about to start on the +quest which had inspired me for many years! The +natives were naturally excited. The dogs caught the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> +contagious enthusiasm, and barked joyously. At eight +o'clock in the morning our whips snapped, the spans of +dog teams leaped forward, and we were off.</p> + +<p>My Polar quest had begun!</p> + +<p>Most of the tribe had seemed willing to go with +me, and to take all their dogs, but the men and the dogs +finally selected were the pick of the lot. All were in +superb physical condition, this matter of condition +being something that I had carefully looked out for during +the winter months. I regard this as having been +highly advantageous to me, that I have always been able +to win the friendship and confidence of the Eskimos; for +thus I found them extremely ready to follow my advice +and instructions, and to do in general anything I desired. +That I could speak Eskimo fairly well—well enough to +hold ordinary conversations—was also a strong asset in +my favor.</p> + +<p>When we started, a few stars were seen between +thin clouds, but the light was good. A soft wind came +from the south; the temperature was -36° F. The +Greenland ice-cap was outlined; a belt of orange in the +south heralded the rising sun. The snow still retained +the purple of twilight. The ice was covered with about +three inches of soft snow over a hard crust, which made +speed difficult. Before noon the sky was gray, but the +light remained good enough for traveling until 4 P. M. +A course was made about northwest, because a more +direct line was still impractical.</p> + +<p>A water sky to the west and south denoted open +water. At 3 P. M. we ran into bear tracks, and the +sledges bounced along as if empty. The tracks were +making a good course for us, so the dogs were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +encouraged. By four o'clock the feeble light made it +dangerous to proceed. Two hunters still followed the +bear tracks, while the others built three snowhouses for +camp. Nothing was seen of the bears.</p> + +<p>The dogs were tied to holes cut in the ice, and we +crept into our snow-mounds, tired, hungry and sleepy. +The night was extremely uncomfortable—the first +nights from camp always are.</p> + +<p>The next day brought a still air with a temperature +of -42° F., and brilliant light at eight o'clock. We had +made twenty miles through the air-line distance from +Annoatok, and Cape Sabine was but thirty miles away. +We had been forced so far north that we still had thirty +miles before us to the Cape. The dogs, however, were in +better trim, and we had no doubt about reaching the +off-shores for the next camp. We followed the edge of +ice which had been made in a wide open space in December. +Here the traveling was fairly level, but above was +a hopeless jungle of mountains and ridges of ice. We +made about three miles an hour, and were able to ride +occasionally.</p> + +<p>At noon of February 20th we stopped, and coffee +was served from our ever-hot coffee box. A can had +been placed in a box, and so protected by reindeer skins +that the heat was retained for twelve hours during the +worst weather. This proved a great luxury.</p> + +<p>While we sat regaling ourselves, a great ball of fire +rose along the icy horizon. Our hearts were glad. The +weather was bitterly cold; the temperature was 51° F.: +but the sun had risen; the long night was at end. There +was little else to mark the glory of sunrise. The light +was no brighter than it had been for two hours. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> +sky remained a purple blue, with a slight grayness in the +south, darkening toward the horizon. The snows were +purple, with just a few dashes of red in the road before +us. This unpretentious burst of the sun opened our +spirits to new delights. Even the dogs sat in graceful +rows and sounded a chorus of welcome to the coming of +the day.</p> + +<p>Although Cape Sabine, on February 20, was in +sight, we still headed for Bache Peninsula. Impossible +ice and open water pushed us farther and farther +north. It was three o'clock before the Cape was +seen over the dogs' tails. Soon after four the light +failed, the land colored to purple and gold toward the +rim of the horizon, and we were left to guess the direction +of our course. But Eskimos are somewhat better +than Yankees at guessing, for we got into no troubles +until 9 P. M., when we tried to scale the rafted ice +against Cape Sabine. With only the camp equipment +and dog food, the dogs crept up and down in the black +hills of ice, while we followed like mountain-sheep.</p> + +<p>Here had been the camp of the ill-fated Greely +expedition. It recurred to me that it was a curious whim +of fate that this ill-starred camp of famine and death, in +earlier days, should have marked the very outset of our +modern effort to reach the Pole. But later we were to +learn that under similar conditions a modern expedition +can meet the same fate as that of the Lady Franklin +Bay Expedition.</p> + +<p>We turned about, took the advance supplies, and +picked a course through Rice Strait, to avoid the rough +ice northward. Here the surface was good, but a light +wind, with a temperature of -52° F., came with great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> +bitterness. The dogs refused to face the wind, and required +someone to lead the way. The men buried their +faces in the fur mittens, leaned on the upstanders, and +ran along.</p> + +<p>Passing Cape Rutherford on February 22, we followed +the coast. Here the wind came from the right, +caught the tip of the nose, burning with a bleaching +effect, which, in camp later, turned black. At Cape +Veile the cache igloo was sighted, and there camp was +pitched.</p> + +<p>In the morning the minimum thermometer registered +-58° F. We were evidently passing from the +storms and open water of Smith Sound, from warm, +moist air to a still, dry climate, with very low temperature. +The day opened beautifully with a glow of rose +to the south, which colored the snows in warm tones. +At noon the sun showed half of its face over the cliffs +as we crossed the bay and sought better ice along +Bache Peninsula. That night we camped near the +Weyprecht Islands. The day, although bright, proved +severe, for most of the natives had frostbites about the +face. Along Bache Peninsula we saw hares staring at +us. Four were secured for our evening meal. In the +very low temperature of -64° F. the hunters suffered +from injuries like burns, due to the blistering cold metal +of their guns.</p> + +<p>Dog food had also to be prepared. In efforts to +divide the walrus skin, two hatchets were broken. The +Eskimo dog is a tough creature, but he cannot be expected +to eat food which breaks an axe. Petroleum and +alcohol were used liberally, and during the night the +skin was sufficiently softened by the heat to be cut with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +the hatchets. This skin seems to be good food for the +dogs. It is about one inch thick, and contains little +water, the skin fibre being a kind of condensed nutriment, +small quantities of which satisfy the dogs. It +digests slowly, and therefore has lasting qualities.</p> + +<p>The lamps, burning at full force, made the igloos +comfortable. The temperature fell to -68° F. It was +the first satisfying sleep of the journey for me. The +economy of the blue fire stoves is beyond conception. +Burning but three pounds of oil all night, the almost +liquid air was reduced to a normal temperature of freezing +point.</p> + +<p>Francke used alcohol stoves, with a double consumption +of fuel. The natives, in their three igloos, +used the copper lamp, shaped after the stone devices, +but they did no cooking.</p> + +<p>In the morning of the 23d we heard sounds to the +south, which at first we thought to be walrus. But after +a time the noise was interpreted as that of the dogs of +the advance party. They were camped a few miles +beyond, and came to our igloos at breakfast. One musk +ox and eleven hares had been secured. The valley had +been thoroughly hunted, but no other game was sighted.</p> + +<p>The ground was nearly bare, and made sledge +travel impossible. They were bound for Annoatok at +once. This was sad news for us. We had counted on +game with which to feed the dog train en route to the +Polar sea. If animals were not secured, our project +would fail at the very start, and this route would be impossible. +To push overland rapidly to the west coast +was our only chance, but the report of insufficient snow +seemed to forbid this. Something, however, must be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +tried. We could not give up without a stronger fight. +The strong probability of our failing to find musk ox, +and extending the expedition for another year, over +another route, made it necessary to send Francke back +to headquarters to guard our supplies. There was no +objection to the return of most of the other party, but +we took their best dogs and sledges, with some exchange +of drivers.</p> + +<p>With this change in the arrangements, and the advance +supplies from Cape Sabine and Cape Viele, each +sledge now carried eight hundred pounds. Beyond, in +Flagler Bay, the ice luckily became smooth and almost +free of snow. An increased number of dogs, with good +traveling, enabled us to make satisfactory progress, +despite the steadily falling temperature.</p> + +<p>The head of Flagler Bay was reached late at night, +after an exhausting march of twenty-five miles. A hard +wind, with a temperature of -60° F., had almost paralyzed +the dogs, and the men were kept alive only by +running with the dogs. Comfortable houses were built +and preparations made for a day of rest. On the morrow +we aimed to explore the land for an auspicious route. +Many new frostbites were again noted in camp. One of +the dogs died of the cold.</p> + +<p>The party was by no means discouraged, however. +We were as enthusiastic as soldiers on the eve of a +longed-for battle. The reduced numbers of the return +party gave us extra rations to use in times of need, and +the land did not seem as hopeless as pictured by the +returning natives. A cache was made here of needful +things for use on the return. Other things, which we +had found useless, were also left here.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p> +<h2>EXPLORING A NEW PASS OVER ACPOHON</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">FROM THE ATLANTIC WATERS AT FLAGLER BAY TO THE +PACIFIC WATERS AT BAY FIORD—THE MECCA OF THE +MUSK OX—BATTLES WITH THE BOVINE MONSTERS OF +THE ARCTIC—SUNRISE AND THE GLORY OF SUNSET</p> + +<h3>XI<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">Breaking a Trail Beyond the Haunts of Man</span></h3> + + +<p>Early in the morning of February 25 the dogs were +spanned to sledges with heavy loads, and we pushed into +the valley of mystery ahead. Our purpose was to cross +the inland ice and descend into Cannon Bay. The +spread of the rush of glacial waters in summer had dug +out a wide central plain, now imperfectly covered with +ice and snow. Over this we lined a trail.</p> + +<p>On each side of us were gradual slopes rising to +cliffs, above which I noted the blue wall of the overland +sea of ice, at an altitude of about two thousand feet. +Nowhere did this offer a safe slope for an ascent. We +now explored the picturesque valley, for I knew that +our only hope was to push overland to Bay Fiord. The +easy slopes were enlivened with darting, downy hares. +Some sat motionless, with their long ears erect, while +they drank the first golden air of sunrise and watched +the coming of new life. Others danced about in frisky +play.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> + +<p>As we pushed along, the ascent of the slope was +gradual. The necessity for crossing from side to side +to find ice or snow lengthened our journey. Only the +partially bare earth gave us trouble. The temperature +was -62° F., but there was no wind. The upper slopes +glittered with bright sunshine. Winding with a stream, +we advanced twenty miles. Beyond there was the +same general topography. The valley looked like a +pass. Clouds of a different kind were seen through the +gorges. At various places we noted old musk ox paths. +I knew that where game trails are well marked on mountains +one is certain to find a good crossing. This rule is +equally good in the Arctic as elsewhere. At any rate, +there was no alternative. The tortures of the top had to +be risked. Pushing onward, we found no fresh signs of +musk ox. A few bear tracks were seen, and a white fox +followed us to camp. We shot sixteen hares, and for the +evening meal unlimited quantities of savory hare meat +made an appetizing broth.</p> + +<p>On the day following, everything was advanced to +this point. A prolonged search for musk ox was made, +with negative results.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the 27th, full loads were taken +on our sledges. With slow progress we advanced on the +rising bed of the stream, the valley moved, and the river +ice was found in one channel, making better travel. +Hare and fox tracks increased in number. The side +slopes were grassy, and mostly swept bare of snow by +strong winter winds. Sand dunes and gravel lines were +also piled up, while huge drifts of pressed snow indicated +a dangerous atmospheric agitation. Here, I +knew, were excellent feeding grounds for musk ox and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> +caribou. But a careful scrutiny gave no results for a +long time.</p> + +<p>To us the musk ox was now of vital importance. +The shorter way, over Schley Land and northward +through Nansen Sound, was possible only if game in +abundance was secured en route. If the product of +the chase gave us no reward, then our Polar venture was +doomed at the outset.</p> + +<p>One day, with a temperature of -100° below the +freezing point, and with a light but sharp Arctic wind +driving needles of frost to the very bone, we searched +the rising slopes of ice-capped lands in the hope of +spotting life.</p> + +<p>For three days the dogs had not been fed. They +sniffed the air, searched the horizon, and ranged the +wilds with all the eagerness of their wolf progenitors. +The hare and the fox were aroused from their winter's +sleep, but such game was not what we now desired. +Only meat and fat in heaps could satisfy the wants of +over a hundred empty stomachs.</p> + +<p>After a hard pull, ascending miniature, ice-covered +hills, winding about big, polished boulders, we +entered a wider section of the narrow gorge-like valley. +Here the silurian rocks had broken down, and by the +influence of glacier streams and glaciers, now receding, +a good deal of rolling, grass-covered land spread from +cliff to cliff. Strong winter gales had bared the ground. +We sat down to rest. The dogs did likewise.</p> + +<p>All searched the new lands with eager eyes. The +dog noses pointed to a series of steep slopes to the +north. They were scenting something, but were too +tired to display the usual animation of the chase. Soon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> +we detected three dark, moving objects on a snowy sun-flushed +hill, under a huge cliff, about a thousand feet +above us. <i>"Ah-ming-mah!"</i> shouted E-tuk-i-shook. +The dogs jumped; the men grasped glasses; in a second +the sledge train was in disorder.</p> + +<p>Fifty dogs were hitched to three sledges. Rushing +up three different gulches, the sledges, with tumbling +human forms as freight, advanced to battle. The musk +oxen, with heads pointed to the attacking forces, quietly +awaited the onrush.</p> + +<p>Within an hour three huge, fat carcasses were down +in the river bed. A temporary camp was made, and +before the meat froze most of it had passed palates +tantalized by many days of gastronomic want.</p> + +<p>Continuing our course, we crossed the divide in a +storm. Beyond, in a canyon, the wind was more uncomfortable +than in the open. Something must be done. +We could not long breathe that maddening air, weighted +by frost and thickened by snows. The snow-bank gave +no shelter whatever, and a rush of snow came over, +which quickly buried the investigators. But it was our +only hope.</p> + +<p>"Dig a hole," said Koo-loo-ting-wah.</p> + +<p>Now, to try to dig a hole without a shovel, and with +snow coming more rapidly than any power of man +could remove, seemed a waste of needed vital force. +But I had faith in the intelligence of my savage companions, +and ordered all hands to work. They gathered +at one corner of the bank, and began to talk and shout, +while I allowed myself to be buried in a pocket of the +cliffs to keep my tender skin from turning to ice. Every +few minutes someone came along to see if I was safe.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p> + +<p>The igloo was progressing. Two men were now +inside. In the course of another hour they reported +four men inside; in another hour seven men were inside, +and the others were piling up the blocks, cut with knives +from the interior. A kind of vestibule was made to +allow the wind to shoot over the entrance. Inside, the +men were sweating.</p> + +<p>Soon afterward I was told that the igloo was completed. +I lost no time in seeking its shelter. A square +hole had been cut, large enough for the entire party if +packed like sardines. Our fur clothing was removed, +and beaten with sticks and stones.</p> + +<p>The lamps sang cheerily of steaming musk ox +steaks. The dogs were brought into the canyon. A +more comfortable night was impossible. We were fifty +feet under the snow. The noise of the driving storm +was lost. The blinding drift about the entrance was +effectually shut out by a block of snow as a door. Two +holes afforded ventilation, and the tremendous difference +between the exterior and the interior air assured +a circulation.</p> + +<p>When we emerged in the morning the sky was +clear. A light wind came from the west, with a temperature +of -78° F. Two dogs had frozen during the +storm. All were buried in the edge of a drift that was +piled fifteen feet. An exploration of the canyon showed +other falls and boulders impossible for sledge travel.</p> + +<p>A trail was picked over the hills to the side. The +day was severe. How we escaped broken legs and +smashed sleds was miraculous. But somehow, in our +plunges down the avalanches, we always landed in a +soft bed of snow. We advanced about ten miles, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> +made a descent of five hundred feet, first camping upon +a glacial lake.</p> + +<p>The temperature now was -79° F., and although +there were about nine hours of good light, including twilight, +we had continued our efforts too long, and were +forced to build igloos by moonlight. Glad were we, +indeed, when the candle was placed in the dome of snow, +to show the last cracks to be stuffed.</p> + +<p>In the searchlight of the frigid dawn I noticed that +our advance was blocked by a large glacier, which tumbled +barriers of ice boulders into the only available line +for a path. A way would have to be cut into this barrier +of icebergs for about a mile. This required the full +energy of all the men for the day. I took advantage of +the halt to explore the country through which we were +forcing a pass. The valley was cut by ancient glaciers +and more modern creeks along the meeting line of two +distinct geological formations. To the north were +silurian and cambro-silurian rocks; to the south were +great archæan cliffs.</p> + +<p>With the camera, the field-glass, and other instruments +in the sack, I climbed into a gorge and rose to the +level of the mountains of the northern slopes. The +ground was here absolutely destitute of vegetation, and +only old musk ox trails indicated living creatures. The +snow had all been swept into the ditches of the lowlands. +Climbing over frost-sharpened stones, I found +footing difficult.</p> + +<p>The average height of the mountains proved to be +nineteen hundred feet. To the northeast there was land +extending a few miles further, with a gradual rising +slope. Beyond was the blue edge of the inland ice. To<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> +the northwest, the land continued in rolling hills, beyond +which no land-ice was seen. The cliffs to the south were +of about the same height, but they were fitted to the +crest with an ice-cap. The overflow of perpetual snows +descended into the gorges, making five overhanging +glaciers.</p> + +<p>The first was at the divide, furnishing in summer +the waters which started the vigorous stream to the +Atlantic slopes. It was a huge stream of ice, about a +mile wide, and it is marked by giant cliffs, separated by +wide gaps, indicating the roughness of the surface over +which it pushes its frozen height. To the stream to +which it gives birth, flowing eastward from the divide, +I will give the name of Schley River, in honor of Rear-Admiral +Schley.</p> + +<p>The stream starting westward from the divide, +through picturesque rocks, tumbles in icy falls into a +huge canyon, down to the Pacific waters at Bay Fiord. +To this I will give, in honor of General A. W. Greely, +the name Greely River.</p> + +<p>The second and third glaciers were overhanging +masses about a half-mile wide, which gave volume in +summer time to Greely River.</p> + +<p>The fourth was a powerful glacier, with a discharging +face of blue three miles long, closing up a valley +and damming up a lake about four miles long and one +mile wide. The lake was beyond the most precipitous +of the descending slopes. The upper cliffs of the walled +valley to Flagler Bay were still visible, while to the west +was seen a line of mountains and cliffs which marked the +head of Bay Fiord, under which was seen the ice covering +the first water of the Pacific upon which our future<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> +fortunes would be told. To this sea level there was an +easy descent of four hundred feet on the river ice and +snowdrifts, making, with good luck, a day's run of +twenty miles.</p> + +<p>Returning, at camp I was informed that not only +had a trail been cut, but many of the sledges had been +advanced to the good ice beyond. Two of the sledges, +however, had been badly broken, and must be mended +at dawn before starting.</p> + +<p>The day was beautiful. For the first time I felt +the heat of the sun. It came through the thick fur of +my shoulders with the tenderness of a warm human +hand. The mere thought of the genial sunbeams +brought a glow of healthful warmth, but at the same +time the thermometer was very low, -78½° F. One's +sense of cold, under normal conditions, is a correct instrument +in its bearing upon animal functions, but as an +instrument of physics it makes an unreliable thermometer. +If I had been asked to guess the temperature of +the day I should have placed it at -25° F.</p> + +<p>The night air had just a smart of bitterness. The +igloo failed to become warm, so we fed our internal fires +liberally with warming courses, coming in easy stages. +We partook of superheated coffee, thickened with sugar, +and biscuits, and later took butter chopped in squares, +which was eaten as cheese with musk ox meat chopped +by our axes into splinters. Delicious hare loins and +hams, cooked in pea soup, served as dessert.</p> + +<p>The amount of sugar and fat which we now consumed +was quite remarkable. Fortunately, during the +journey to the edge of the Polar sea, there was no +urgent limit to transportation, and we were well sup<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>plied +with the luxury of sugar and civilized foods, most +of which later were to be abandoned.</p> + +<p>In this very low temperature I found considerable +difficulty in jotting down the brief notes of our day's +doings. The paper was so cold that the pencil barely +left a mark. A few moments had to be spent warming +each page and pencil before beginning to write. With +the same operation, the fingers were also sufficiently +warmed to hold the pencil. All had to be done by the +light and heat of a candle.</p> + +<p>To economize fuel, the fires later were extinguished +before retiring to sleep. In the morning we were buried +in the frost falling from our own breath.</p> + +<p>It was difficult to work at dawn with fur-covered +hands; but the Eskimo can do much with his glove-fitting +mitten. The broken sledges were soon repaired. +After tumbling over irregular ice along the face of the +glacier, the river offered a splendid highway over which +the dogs galloped with remarkable speed. We rode +until cold compelled exercise. The stream descended +among picturesque hills, but the most careful scrutiny +found no sign of life except the ever-present musk ox +trails of seasons gone by.</p> + +<p>As we neared the sea line, near the mouth of the +river, we began to see a few fresh tracks of hare and +musk ox. Passing out on the south of Bay Fiord, we +noted bear and wolf tracks. Then the eyes of the hunter +and the dog rolled with eager anticipation.</p> + +<p>The sun flushed the skies in flaming colors as it was +about to sink behind a run of high peaks. The western +sky burned with gold, the ice flashed with crimson inlets, +but the heat was very feeble. The temperature was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> +-72° F. We had already gone twenty-five miles, and +were looking forward to a point about ten miles beyond +as the next camping place, when all my companions, +seemingly at once, espied a herd of musk ox on the sky +line of a whale-backed mountain to the north.</p> + +<p>The distance was about three miles, but the eagle +eyes of the natives detected the black spots.</p> + +<p>We searched the gorge with our glasses. Suddenly +one of the Eskimos cried out in a joyous tone: "<i>Ah-ming-ma! +Ah-ming-ma!</i>"</p> + +<p>I could detect only some dark specks on the snow, +which looked like a hundred others that I knew to be +rocks. I levelled my glasses on the whale-backed mountain +at which the Eskimo was staring, and, sure enough, +there were three musk oxen on a steep snow slope. +They seemed to be digging up the winter snow fields +to get "scrub" willows. They were not only three miles +away, but at an altitude of perhaps a thousand feet +above us.</p> + +<p>The cumbersome loads were quickly pitched from +three sledges. Rifles and knives were securely fastened. +In a few moments the long lashes snapped, and away +we rushed, with two men on each of the sledges and +with double teams of twenty dogs.</p> + +<p>The dogs galloped at a pace which made the sledges +bound like rubber balls over irregularities of rocks, slippery +ice, and hard-crusted snow, and our hold tightened +on the hickory in the effort to keep our places. It disturbed +the dogs not at all whether they were on rock or +snow, or whether the sledge rested on runners or turned +spirally; but it made considerable difference to us, and +we lost much energy in the constant efforts to avoid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> +somersaults. We did not dare release our grip for a +moment, for to do so would have meant painful bumping +and torn clothes, as well as being left behind in the +chase.</p> + +<p>It took but a brief time to cover the three miles. +We made our final advance by three separate ravines, +and for a time the musk oxen were out of sight. When +we again saw them they had not taken the alarm, nor +did they until we were ready to attack them from three +separate points.</p> + +<p>All but five dogs from each sledge were now freed +from harness. They darted toward the oxen with fierce +speed.</p> + +<p>The oxen tried to escape through a ravine, but it +was too late. The dogs were on every side of them, and +all the oxen could do was to grunt fiercely and jump +into a bunch, with tails together and heads directed at +the enemy. There were seven musk oxen in all, and they +tried to keep the dogs scattered at a safe distance.</p> + +<p>The dogs would rush up to within a few feet, showing +their teeth and uttering wolfish sounds, and every +now and then an ox would rush out from its circle, with +head down, in an effort to strike the dogs; but the dogs +were always too quick to be caught by the savage thrust, +and each time the ox, in its retreat, would feel canine +fangs closing on its haunches.</p> + +<p>After a few such efforts, the bulls, with lowered +horns, merely held to the position, while the dogs, not +daring actually to attack under such circumstances, sat +in a circle and sent up blood-chilling howls. Meanwhile, +the Eskimos and myself were hurrying up.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_203.jpg" width="640" height="426" alt="THE IGLOO BUILT, WE PREPARE FOR OUR DAILY CAMP" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“THE IGLOO BUILT, WE PREPARE FOR OUR DAILY CAMP”</span> +</div> + +<p>The strife was soon over. I snapped my camera at +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> +an old bull which at that moment broke through the +dogs and, followed by a group of them, was driven +madly over a cliff in a plunge of five thousand feet. The +other oxen were soon killed by the hunters.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 523px;"> +<img src="images/illo_204.jpg" width="523" height="800" alt="CAMPING TO EAT AND TAKE OBSERVATIONS +ON AGAIN!" title="" /> +<span class="caption">CAMPING TO EAT AND TAKE OBSERVATIONS<br /> +ON AGAIN!</span> +</div> + +<p>The sun settled under mountains of ice, and the +purple twilight rapidly thickened. It was very cold. +The breath of each man came like jets of steam from a +kettle. The temperature was now -81° F. No time +could be lost in dressing the game. But the Eskimos +were equal to the task, and showed such skill as only +Indians possess.</p> + +<p>While this was being done by my companions, I +strolled about to note the ear-marks of the home of the +musk ox. The mountain was in line of the sweep of the +winds, and was bared of snows. Here were grass, +mosses, and creeping willows in abundance, descending +into the gullies. I found fossil-stumps of large trees +and bits of lignite coal. The land in pre-glacial times +had evidently supported a vigorous vegetation; but now +the general aspect offered a scene of frosty hopelessness. +Still, in this desolation of snowy wastes, nature had supplied +creatures with food in their hard pressure of life.</p> + +<p>Fox and wolf tracks were everywhere, while on +every little eminence sat an Arctic hare, evincing ear-upraised +surprise at our appearance. With the glasses +I noted on neighboring hills three other herds of musk +ox. This I did not tell the hunters, for they would not +have rested until all were secured. Living in a land of +cold and hunger, the Eskimo is insatiable for game. We +had as much meat as we could possibly use for the next +few days, and it was much easier to fill up, and secure +more when we needed it, than now to carry almost im<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>possible +loads. In a remarkably short time the skins +were removed and the meat was boned and cut in small +strips in such a way that the axe would break it when +frozen. Neatly wrapped in skins, the loads did not +seem large.</p> + +<p>Selecting a few choice bits for later use, the balance +was separated and allowed to cool. I looked at the +enormous quantity of meat, and wondered how it could +be transported to camp, but no such thought troubled +the Eskimos. Piece after piece went down the canine +throats with a gulp. No energy was wasted in mastication. +With a drop of the jaws and a twist of the neck, +the task of eating was finished and the stomach began to +spread. The dogs had not yet reached their limit when +the snow was cleared of its weight of dressed meat and +a canine wrangle began for the possession of the cleaned +bones.</p> + +<p>With but little meat on the sledges, we began the +descent, but the spirit of the upward rush was lost. +The dogs, too full to run, simply rolled down the slopes, +and we pushed the sledges ourselves. The ox that had +made the death plunge was picked up and taken as +reserve meat. It was midnight before camp was +pitched. The moon burned with a cheerful glow. The +air was filled with liquid frost, but there was no wind +and consequently no suffering from cold.</p> + +<p>Two comfortable snowhouses were built, and in +them our feasts rivalled the canine indulgence. Thus +was experienced the greatest joy of savage life in boreal +wilds—the hunt of the musk ox, with the advantage of +the complex cunning gathered by forgotten ages. The +balance of the meat left after our feast was buried, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> +the protecting skins, in the snow. On opening the meat +on the following morning, it was still warm, although +the minimum thermometer registered -80° F. for the +night.</p> + +<p>A few minutes before midday, on our next march, +the sledge train halted. We sat on the packs, and, +with eyes turned southward, waited. Even an Eskimo +has an eye for color and a soul for beauty. To us there +appeared a play of suppressed light and bleached color +tints, as though in harmony with bars of music, which +inspired my companions to shouts of joy.</p> + +<p>Slowly and majestically the golden orb lifted. The +dogs responded in low, far-reaching calls. The Eskimos +greeted the day god with savage chants. The sun, a +flushed crimson ball, edged along the wintry outline of +the mountains' purplish snowy glitter. The pack was +suddenly screened by a moving sheet of ever-changing +color, wherein every possible continuation of purple and +gold merged with rainbow hues.</p> + +<p>Soon the dyes changed to blue, and eventually the +sky was fired by flames of red. Then, slowly, the great +blazing globe sank into seas of fire-flushed ice. The +snowy mountains about glowed with warm cheer. The +ice cooled again to purple, and again to blue, and then +a winter blackness closed the eye to color and the soul +to joy.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p> +<h2>IN GAME TRAILS TO LAND'S END</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">SVERDRUP'S NEW WONDERLAND—FEASTING ON GAME EN +ROUTE TO SVARTEVOEG—FIRST SHADOW OBSERVATIONS—FIGHTS +WITH WOLVES AND BEARS—THE JOYS +OF ZERO'S LOWEST—THRESHOLD OF THE UNKNOWN</p> + +<h3>XII<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">Shores of the Circumpolar Sea</span></h3> + + +<p>March 2 was bright and clear and still. The ice +was smooth, with just snow enough to prevent the dogs +cutting their feet. The heavy sledges bounded along +easily, but the dogs were too full of meat to step a lively +pace. The temperature was -79° F. We found it +comfortable to walk along behind the upstanders of the +sledges. Some fresh bear tracks were crossed. These +denoted that bears had advanced along the coast on an +exploring tour, much as we aimed to do. Scenting +these tracks, the dogs forgot their distended stomachs, +and braced into the harness with full pulling force. We +were still able to keep pace by running. Hard exercise +brought no perspiration.</p> + +<p>After passing the last land point, we noted four +herds of musk oxen. The natives were eager to embark +for the chase. I tried to dissuade them, but, had we not +crossed the bear trail, no word of mine would have kept +them from another chase of the musk ox.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p> + +<p>Long after sunset, as we were about to camp, a bear +was sighted advancing on us behind a line of hummocks. +The light was already feeble. It was the work of but a +minute to throw our things on the ice and start the teams +on the scent of the bear. But this bear was thin and +hungry. He gave us a lively chase. His advance was +checked, however, as our rush began, and he spread his +huge paws into a step which outdistanced our dogs. +The chase was continued on the ice for about three miles. +Then bruin, with sublime intelligence, took to the land +and the steep slopes, leading us over hilly, bare ground, +rocks, and soft snows. He gained the top of the tall +cliffs while we were still groping in the darkness among +the rocks at the base, a thousand feet below.</p> + +<p>The sledges were now left, and the dogs freed. +They flew up a gully in which the bear tracks guided an +easy path. In a short time their satisfying howls told +of the bear's captivity. He had taken a position on +a table-rock, which was difficult for the dogs to climb. +At an easy distance from this rock were steep slopes of +snow. One after another, the dogs came tumbling +down these slopes. With but a slight cuff of his paw, +the bear could toss the attacking dogs over dizzy heights. +His position was impregnable to the dogs, but, thus +perched, he was a splendid mark for E-tuk-i-shook. That +doughty huntsman raised his gun, and, following a shot, +the bear rolled down the same slopes on which he had +hurled the dogs. To his carcass a span of strong dogs +were soon hitched, and it was hauled down to the sea +level. Quickly dressed and distributed, the bear was +only a teasing mouthful to the ever-hungry dogs.</p> + +<p>It was nearly midnight before we returned to our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> +sledge packs. The work of building the houses was +rendered difficult by the failing moon and the very low +temperature. The lowest temperature of the season, +-83°, was reached this night.</p> + +<p>The sun rose in the morning of March 3 with warm +colors, painting the crystal world surrounding us with +gorgeous tints of rose and old gold. It was odd that +in the glare of this enrapturing glory we should note the +coldest day of the year.</p> + +<p>With the returning sun in the Arctic comes the +most frigid season. The light is strongly purple, and +one is tempted to ascribe to the genial rays a heating +influence which is as yet absent, owing to their slant. +The night-darkened surfaces prevent the new sunbeams +from disseminating any considerable heat, and the +steadily falling temperature indicates that the crust of +the earth, as a result of its long desertion by the sun in +winter, is still unchecked in its cooling. Because of the +persistence of terrestrial radiation, we have the coldest +weather of the year with the ascending sun.</p> + +<p>It is a fortunate provision of nature that these icy +days of the ascending sun are usually accompanied by a +breathless stillness. When wind and storms come, the +temperature quickly rises. It is doubtful if any form +of life could withstand a storm at -80° F. A quiet +charm comes with this eye-opening period. The spirits +rise with indescribable gladness, and, although the mercury +is frozen, the body, when properly dressed, is perfectly +comfortable. The soft light of purple and gold, +or of lilac and rose, on the snowy slopes, dispels the +chronic gloom of the long night, while the tonic of a +brightening air of frost returns the flush to the pale<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +cheeks. The stillness adds a charm, with which the +imagination plays. It is not the music of silence, nor +the gold solitude of summer, nor the deathlike stillness +of the winter blackness. It is the stillness of zero's +lowest, which has a beauty of its own.</p> + +<p>The ice pinnacles are lined with hoar frost, on +which there is a play of rainbow colors. The tread of +one's feet is muffled by feathery beds of snow. The +mountains, raised by the new glow of light or outlined +by colored shadows, stand against the brightened +heavens in sculptured magnificence.</p> + +<p>The bear admires his shadow, the fox peeps from +behind his bushy tail, devising a new cult, for his art of +night will soon be a thing of the past. The hare sits, +with forelegs bent reverently, as if offering prayers of +gratitude. The musk ox stands in the brightest sun, with +his beautiful coat of black and blue, and absorbs the first +heaven-given sun bath, and man soars high in dreams of +happiness.</p> + +<p>Shadows always attract the eye of primitive people +and children. In a world such as the one we were invading, +with little to rest the eye from perpetual glitter, they +were to become doubly interesting. When we first +began observing our shadows, on March 3, I did not +dream that a thing so simple could rise to the dignity +of a proof of the Polar conquest. But, since then, I have +come to the conclusion that, if a proof of this much-discussed +problem is at all possible, it is in the corroborative +evidence of just such little things as shadows.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, I have examined every note and impression +bearing on natural phenomena en route.</p> + +<p>To us, in our daily marches from Bay Fiord, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +shadow became a thing of considerable interest and importance. +The Eskimo soul is something apart from +the body. The native believes it follows in the shadow. +For this reason, stormy, sunless days are gloomy times +to the natives, for the presence of the soul is then not in +evidence. The night has the same effect, although the +moon often throws a clear-cut shadow. The native believes +the soul at times wanders from the body. When +it does this, the many rival spirits, which in their system +of beliefs tenant the body, get into all sorts of trouble.</p> + +<p>Every person, and every animal, has not only a soul +which guards its destiny, but every part of the body has +an individual spirit—the arm, the leg, the nose, the eye, +the ear, and every other conceivable part of the anatomy, +with a peculiar individuality, throbs with a separate life. +The separate, wandering soul in the shadow is the guiding +influence.</p> + +<p>Furthermore, there is no such conception as an +absolutely inanimate thing. The land, the sea, the air, +ice, and snow, have great individual spirits that ever +engage in battle with each other. Even mountains, valleys, +rocks, icebergs, wood, iron, fire—all have spirits. +All of this gives them a keen interest in shadows in an +otherwise desert of gloom and death.</p> + +<p>Their entire religious creed would require a long +time to work out. Even that part of it which is represented +by the shadow is quite beyond me. As I observed +in our following marches toward Svartevoeg, +their keen eyes detect in shadows incidents and messages +of life, histories that would fill volumes. The shadow is +long or short, clear-cut or vague, dark or light, blue or +purple, violet or black. Each phase of it has a special<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> +significance. It presages luck or ill-luck on the chase, +sickness and death in the future, the presence or unrest +of the souls of parted friends. Even the souls of the +living sometimes get mixed. Then there is love or intrigue. +All the passions of wild life can be read from +the shadows. The most pathetic shadows had been the +vague, ghastly streaks of black that followed the body +about a week before sunset in October. At that time +all the Arctic world is sad, and tears come easily.</p> + +<p>The shadow does not quickly come back with the +returning sun. Continuous storms so screen the sunbeams +that only a vague, diffused light reaches the long +night-blackened snows. When the joy of seeing the +first shadows exploded among my companions I did not +know just what intoxication infected the camp. With +full stomachs of newly acquired musk ox loins, we had +slept. Suddenly the sun burst through a maze of burning +clouds and made our snow palace glow with electric +darts. The temperature was very low. Only half-dressed, +the men rushed out, dancing with joy.</p> + +<p>Their shadows were long, sharp-cut, and of a deep, +purple blue. They danced with them. This brought +them back to the normal life of Eskimo hilarity. Then +followed the pleasures of the thrill of the sunny days of +crystal air and blinding sparkle during never-to-be +forgotten days of the enervating chill of zero's lowest at +-83° F.</p> + +<p>In the northward progress, for a long time the +shadows did not perceptibly shorten or brighten to my +eyes. The natives, however, on our subsequent marches, +got from these shadows a never-ending variety of topics +to talk about. They foretold storms, located game, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +read the story of respective home entanglements of the +Adamless Eden which we had left far away on the +Greenland shore.</p> + +<p>Our bear adventures took us on an advance trail +over which progress was easy. Beyond, the snow increased +rapidly in depth with every mile. Snowshoes +were lashed to our feet for the first mile. We halted in +our march at noon, attacked suddenly by five wolves. +The rifles were prepared for defense. No shots were to +be fired, however, unless active battle was commenced. +The creatures at close range were slightly cream-colored, +with a little gray along their backs, but at a greater distance +they seemed white. They came from the mountains, +with a chilling, hungry howl that brought shivers. +The dogs were interested, but made no offer to give +chase.</p> + +<p>The wolves passed the advancing sledges at a distance, +and gathered about the rear sledge, which was +separated from the train. The driver turned his team +to help in the fight. As the sledges neared, the teams +were stopped, the wolves sat down and delivered a maddening +chorus of chagrin. The dogs were restless, but +only wiggled their tails. The men stood still, with +rifles pointed. The chorus ended. The battle was declared +off. Seeing that they were outnumbered, the +howling creatures turned and dashed up the snowy +slopes, from which they had come, with a storming rush. +The train was lined up, and through the deep snow we +plowed westward.</p> + +<p>In two difficult marches we reached Eureka +Sound.</p> + +<p>Wolves continued on our trail nearly every day<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> +along the west coast of Acpohon, and also along North +Devon.</p> + +<p>In the extreme North, the wolf, like the fox, is pure +white, with black points to the ears, and spots over the +eyes. In the regions farther south his fur is slightly +gray. In size, he is slightly larger than the Eskimo +dog, his body longer and thinner, and he travels with his +tail down. Like the bear, he is a ceaseless wanderer +during all seasons of the year.</p> + +<p>In winter, wolves gather in groups of six or eight, +and attack musk ox, or anything in their line of march. +But in summer they travel in pairs, and become scavengers. +The wolf is alert in estimating the number of his +combatants and their fighting qualities. Men and dogs +in numbers he never approaches within gunshot, contenting +himself by howling piercingly from mountains +at a long distance. When a single sledge was separated +from the others, he would approach to an uncomfortable +range.</p> + +<p>Bear tracks were also numerous. We were, however, +too tired to give chase. Close to a cape where we +paused, on Eureka Sound, to cut snow-blocks for igloos +attached to the sledges, E-tuk-i-shook noted two bears +wandering over the lands not far away. Watching for +a few moments with the glasses, we noted that they were +stalking a sleeping musk ox. Now we did not care particularly +for the bears, but the musk ox was regarded as +our own game, and we were not willing to divide it +knowingly. The packs were pitched into the snow, and +the dogs rushed through deep snow, over hummocks +and rocks, to the creeping bears.</p> + +<p>As the bears turned, the rear attack seemed to offer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> +sport, and they rose to meet us. But as one team after +the other bounced over the nearest hills, their heads +turned and they rushed up the steep slopes. We now +saw twenty musk oxen asleep in scattered groups. +These interested us more than the bears. The dogs +were seemingly of the same mind, for they required no +urging to change the noses from the bears to the +musk oxen.</p> + +<p>As we wound around the hill upon which they +rested, all at once arose, shook off the snow, rubbed their +horns on their knees, and then formed a huge star. In +a short time the entire herd was ours. The meat was +dressed, wrapped in skins, the dogs lightly fed, and the +carcasses hauled to camp. Then we completed our +igloos. Bears and wolves wandered about camp all +night, but with one hundred dogs, whose eyes were on +the swelled larder, there was no danger from wild +brutes.</p> + +<p>Early in the morning of March 4 we were awakened +by a furious noise from the dogs. Koo-loo-ting-wah +peeked out and saw a bear in the act of taking a choice +strip of tenderloin from the meat. With a deft cut of the +knife, a falling block of snow made a window, and +through it the rifle was leveled at the animal. He was +big, fat, and gave us just the blubber required for our +lamps.</p> + +<p>A holiday was declared. It would take time to +stuff the dogs with twenty musk oxen and a bear. Furthermore, +our clothing needed attention. Boots, mittens, +and stockings had to be dried and mended. Some +of our garments were torn in places, permitting winds +to enter. Much of the dog harness required fixing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> +The Eskimos' sledges had been slightly broken. Later, +the same day, another herd of twenty musk oxen +were seen. Now even the Eskimo's savage thirst +for blood was satisfied. The pot was kept boiling, and +the igloos rang with chants of primitive joys.</p> + +<p>On March 7 we began a straight run to the Polar +sea, a distance of one hundred and seventy miles. The +weather was superb and the ice again free of heavy +snow.</p> + +<p>In six marches we reached Schei Island, which we +found to be a peninsula. We halted here and a +feast day was declared. Twenty-seven musk oxen and +twenty-four hares were secured in one after-dinner hunt. +This meat guaranteed a food supply to the shores of the +Polar sea. A weight was lifted from my load of cares, +for I had doubted the existence of game far enough +north to count on fresh meat to the sea. The temperature +was still low (-50° F.), but the nights were brightening, +and the days offered twelve hours of good light. +Our outlook was hopeful indeed.</p> + +<p>In the Polar campaign, the bear was unconsciously +our best friend, and also consciously our worst enemy. +There were times when we admired him, although he was +never exactly friendly to us. There were other times +when we regarded him with a savage wrath. Only beyond +the range of life in the utmost North were we free +from his attacks. In other places he nosed our trail +with curious persistence. He had attacked the first +party that was sent out to explore a route, under cover +of night and storms. One man was wounded, another +lost the tail of his coat and a part of his anatomy.</p> + +<p>In our march of glory through the musk ox land,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> +the bear came as a rival, and disputed not only our right +to the chase, but also our right to the product from our +own catch. But we had guns and dogs, and the bears +fell easily. We were jealous of the quest of the musk +ox. It seemed properly to belong to the domain of +man's game. We were equal at the time to the task, +and did not require the bear's help.</p> + +<p>The bears were good at figures, and quickly realized +ours was a superior fighting force. So they joined +the ranks in order that they might share in the division +of the spoils. The bear's goodly mission was always +regarded with suspicion. We could easily spare the +bones of our game, which he delighted to pick. We were +perfectly able to protect our booty with one hundred +dogs, whose dinners depended on open eyes. But the +bear did not always understand our tactics. We afterwards +learned that we did not always understand his, +for he drove many prizes into our arms. But man is a +short-sighted critic—he sees only his side of the game.</p> + +<p>In the northern march a much more friendly spirit +was developed. We differed on many points of ethics +with bruin, and our fights, successful or otherwise, were +too numerous and disagreeable to relate fully. Only +one of these battles will be recorded here, to save the +reputation of man as a superior fighting animal.</p> + +<p>We had made a long march of about forty miles. +Already the dull purple of twilight was resting heavily +on darkening snows. The temperature was -81°. +There was no wind. The air was semi-liquid with suspended +crystals. When standing still we were perfectly +comfortable, although jets of steam from our nostrils +arranged frost crescents about our faces.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p> + +<p>We had been advancing towards a group of musk +oxen for more than an hour. We were now in the habit +of living from catch to catch, filling up on meat at the +end of each successful hunt, and waiting for pot-luck for +the next meal. The sledges were too heavily loaded to +carry additional weight. Furthermore, the temperature +was too low to split up frozen meat. Indeed, most +of our axes had been broken in trying to divide meat as +dog food. It was plainly an economy of axes and fuel +to fill up on warm meat as the skin was removed, and +wait for the next plunder.</p> + +<p>We had been two days without setting eyes on an +appetizing meal of steaming meat. Not a living speck +had crossed our horizon; and, therefore, when we noted +the little cloud of steam rise from a side hill, and +guessed that under it were herds of musk ox, our +palates moistened with anticipatory joys. A camping +place was sought. Two domes of snow were erected as +a shelter.</p> + +<p>Through the glasses we counted twenty-one musk +oxen. Some were digging up snow to find willows; +others were sleeping. All were unsuspecting. After +the experience we had in this kind of hunting, we confidently +counted the game as ours. A holiday was declared +for the morrow, to dispose of the surplus. Nourishment +in prospect, one hundred dogs started with a +jump, under the lashes of ten Eskimos. Our sledges +began shooting the boreal shoots. After rushing over +minor hills, the dog noses sank into bear tracks. A little +farther along, we realized we had rivals. Two bears +were far ahead, approaching the musk oxen.</p> + +<p>The dogs scented their rivals. The increased<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +bounding of the sledges made looping-the-loop seem +tame. But we were too late; the bears ran into the +bunch of animals, and spoiled our game with no advantage +to themselves. Giving a half-hearted chase, they +rose to a bank of snow, deliberately sat down, and turned +to a position to give us the laugh.</p> + +<p>The absence of musk ox did not slacken the pace +of the dogs. The bears were quick to see the force of +our intent. They scattered and climbed. A bear is an +expert Alpinist; he requires no ice axe and no lantern. +The moon came out, and the snow slopes began to glare +with an electric incandescence.</p> + +<p>In this pearly light, the white bear seemed black, +and was easily located. One bear slipped into a ravine +and was lost. All attention was now given to the other, +which was ascending an icy ridge to a commanding +precipice. We cut the dogs from the sledges. They +soared up the white slope as if they had wings. The +bear gained the crest in time to cuff away each rising +antagonist. The dogs tumbled over each other, down +several hundred feet into a soft snow-padded gully. +Other dogs continued to rise on the ridge to keep the +bear guessing. The dogs in the pit discovered a new +route, and made a combined rear attack. Bruin was +surprised, and turned to face his enemies. Backing from +a sudden assault, he stepped over a precipice, and tumbled +in a heap into the dog-strewn pit. The battle was +now on in full force. Finding four feet more useful +than one mouth, the bear turned on his back and sent his +paws out with telling effect. The dogs, although not +giving up the battle, scattered, for the swing of the +creature's feet did not suit their battle methods. Sit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>ting +on curled tails, they filled the air with murderous +howls and raised clouds of frozen breath in the flying +snow.</p> + +<p>We were on the scene at a safe distance, each with +a tight grip on his gun, expecting the bear to make a +sudden plunge. But he was not given a choice of movement, +and we could not shoot into the darting pit of +dogs without injuring them. At this moment Ah-we-lah, +youngest of the party, advanced. Leaving his gun, +he descended through the dog ranks into the pit, with +the spiked harpoon shaft. The bear threw back its +head to meet him. A score of dogs grabbed the bear's +feet. Ah-we-lah raised his arm. A sudden savage +thrust sank the blunt steel into the bear's chest. Cracking +whips, we scattered the guarding dogs. The prize +was quickly divided.</p> + +<p>On our advance to the Polar sea, I found that there +is considerable art in building snowhouses. The casual +observer is likely to conclude that it is an easy problem +to pile up snow-blocks, dome-shaped, but to do this +properly, so that the igloo will withstand wind, requires +adept work. From the lessons of my companions in +this art I now became more alert to learn, knowing the +necessity of protection on our Polar dash.</p> + +<p>The first problem is to find proper snow. One has +often to seek for banks where the snow is just hard +enough. If it is too hard, it cannot be easily cut with +knives. If it is too soft, the blocks will crush, and cause +the house to cave in. Long knives are the best instruments—one +of fifteen inches and another about ten. +From sixty to seventy-five blocks, fifteen by twenty-four +inches, are required to make a house ten feet by ten.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> +The blocks are cut according to the snow, but fifteen by +twenty-four by eight inches is the best size.</p> + +<p>The lower tiers of blocks are set in slight notches in +the snow, to prevent the blocks from slipping out. A +slight tilt begins from the first tiers; the next tier tilts +still more, and so the next. The blocks are set so that +the upper blocks cover the breaks in the lower tier. The +fitting is done mostly with the blocks in position, the +knife being passed between the blocks to and fro, with +a pressure on the blocks with the other hand. The +hardest task is to make the blocks stick without holding +in the upper tiers. This is done by deft cuts with the +knife and a slight thump of the blocks.</p> + +<p>The dome is the most difficult part to build. In +doing this all blocks are leveled and carefully set to arch +the roof.</p> + +<p>When the structure is completed, a candle is lit and +the cracks are stuffed by cutting the edges off the nearest +blocks, and pressing the broken snow into the cracks +with the mittens. After this process, the interior arrangement +is worked out. The foot space is first cut +out in blocks. If the snow is on a slope, as it often happens, +these blocks are raised and the upper slopes are +cut down to a level plane.</p> + +<p>The foot space is a very important matter, first for +the comfort of sitting, and also to let off the carbonic +acid gas, which quickly settles in these temperatures and +extinguishes the fires. It, of course, has also an important +bearing on human breathing.</p> + +<p>Inhalation of very cold air at this time forced an +unconscious expenditure of very much energy. The +extent of this tax can be gauged only by the enormous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +difference between the temperature of the body and that +of the air. One day it was -72° F. The difference +was, therefore, 170°. It is hard to conceive of normal +breathing under such difficulties; but when properly +clothed and fed, no great discomfort or ill-effects are +noted. The membranes of the air passages are, however, +overflushed with blood. The chest circulation is +forced to its limits, and the heart beats are increased and +strengthened. The organs of circulation and respiration, +which do ninety per cent. of the work of the body, +are taxed with a new burden that must be counted in +estimating one's day's task. This loss of power in +breathing extreme frost is certain to reduce working +time and bodily force.</p> + +<p>The land whose coast we were following to the +shores of the Polar sea is part of the American hemisphere, +and one of the largest islands of the world, +spreading 30° longitude and rising 7° of latitude. What +is its name? The question must remained unanswered, +for it not only has no general name, but numerous sections +are written with names and outlines that differ to a +large extent with the caprice of the explorers who have +been there.</p> + +<p>The south is called Lincoln Land; above it, +Ellesmere Land. Then comes Schley Land, Grinnell +Land, Arthur Land, and Grant Land, with other lands +of later christening by Sverdrup and others.</p> + +<p>No human beings inhabit the island. No nation +assumes the responsibility of claiming or protecting it. +The Eskimo calls the entire country Acpohon, or "the +Land of Guillemots," which are found in great abundance +along the southeast point. I have, therefore, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +avoid conflictions, affixed the name of Acpohon as the +general designation.</p> + +<p>We had now advanced beyond the range of all +primitive life. No human voice broke the frigid silence. +The Eskimos had wandered into the opening of the +musk ox pass. Sverdrup had mapped the channels of +the west coast. But here was no trace of modern or aboriginal +residence. There is no good reason why men +should not have followed the musk oxen here, but the +nearest Eskimos on the American side are those on Lancaster +Sound.</p> + +<p>I found an inspiration in being thus alone at the +world's end. The barren rocks, the wastes of snow-fields, +the mountains stripped of earlier ice-sheets, and +every phase of the landscape, assured a new interest. +There was a note of absolute abandon on the part of +nature. If our own resources failed, or if a calamity +overtook us, there would be no trace to mark icy graves +forever hidden from surviving loved ones.</p> + +<p>My Eskimo comrades were enthusiastic explorers. +The game trails gave a touch of animation to their steps, +which meant much to the progress of the expedition. +We not only saw musk oxen in large herds, but tracks +of bears and wolves were everywhere in line with our +course. On the sea-ice we noted many seal blow-holes. +Already the natives talked of coming here on the following +year to cast their lot in the new wilds.</p> + +<p>The picturesque headland of Schie we found to be +a huge triassic rock of the same general formation as +that indicated along Eureka Sound. Its west offered a +series of grassy slopes bared by persistent winds, upon +which animal life found easy access to the winter-cured<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> +grass. A narrow neck of land connected what seemed +like an island with the main land. Here caches of fur +and fuel were left for the return. In passing Snag's +Fiord the formation changed. Here, for several +marches, game was scarce. The temperature rose as we +neared the Polar sea. The snow became much deeper +but it was hardened by stronger winds and increased +humidity. High glacier-abandoned valleys with gradual +slopes to the water's edge, gave the Heiberg shores +on Nansen Sound a different type of landscape from +that of the opposite shores. Here and there we found +pieces of lignite coal, and as we neared Svartevoeg the +carboniferous formation became more evident.</p> + +<p>Camping in the lowlands just south of Svartevoeg +Cliffs we secured seven musk oxen and eighty-five hares. +Here were immense fields of grass and moss bared by +persistent winter gales. By a huge indentation here, +through which we saw the sea-level ice of the west, the +shores seemed to indicate that the point of Heiberg is an +island, but of this we were not absolutely sure. To us +it was a great surprise that here, on the shores of the +Polar sea, we found a garden spot of plant luxuriance +and animal delight. For this assured, in addition to the +caches left en route, a sure food supply for the return +from our mission to the North.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="THE_TRANS-BOREAL_DASH_BEGINS" id="THE_TRANS-BOREAL_DASH_BEGINS"></a>THE TRANS-BOREAL DASH BEGINS</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">BY FORCED EFFORTS AND THE USE OF AXES SPEED IS MADE +OVER THE LAND—ADHERING PACK ICE OF POLAR SEA—THE +MOST DIFFICULT TRAVEL OF THE PROPOSED +JOURNEY SUCCESSFULLY ACCOMPLISHED—REGRETFUL +PARTING WITH THE ESKIMOS</p> + +<h3>XIII<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">Five Hundred Miles From the Pole</span></h3> + + +<p>Svartevoeg is a great cliff, the northernmost point +of Heiberg Land, which leaps precipitously into the +Polar sea. Its negroid face of black scarred rocks +frowns like the carven stone countenance of some hideously +mutilated and enraged Titan savage. It expresses, +more than a human face could, the unendurable +sufferings of this region of frigid horrors. It is five +hundred and twenty miles from the North Pole.</p> + +<p>From this point I planned to make my dash in as +straight a route as might be possible. Starting from +our camp at Annoatok late in February, when the curtain +of night was just beginning to lift, when the chill +of the long winter was felt at its worst, we had forced +progress through deep snows, over land and frozen seas, +braving the most furious storms of the season and traveling +despite baffling darkness, and had covered in less +than a month about four hundred miles—nearly half<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +the distance between our winter camp and the Pole.</p> + +<p>Arriving at land's end my heart had cause for +gratification. We had weathered the worst storms of +the year. The long bitter night had now been lost. The +days lengthened and invaded with glitter the decreasing +nights. The sun glowed more radiantly daily, rose +higher and higher to a continued afterglow in cheery +blues, and sank for periods briefer and briefer in seas of +running color. Our hopes, like those of all mankind, had +risen with the soul-lifting sun. We had made our progress +mainly at the expense of the land which we explored, +for the game en route had furnished food and clothing.</p> + +<p>The supplies we had brought with us from Annoatok +were practically untouched. We had stepped in +overfed skins, were fired by a resolution which was recharged +by a strength bred of feeding upon abundant +raw and wholesome meat. Eating to repletion on unlimited +game, our bodies were kept in excellent trim by +the exigencies of constant and difficult traveling.</p> + +<p>As a man's mental force is the result of yesteryears' +upbuilding, so his strength of to-day is the result of last +week's eating. With the surge of ambition which had +been formulating for twenty years, and my body in best +physical shape for the supreme test, the Pole now +seemed almost near.</p> + +<p>As the great cliffs of Svartevoeg rose before us my +heart leaped. I felt that the first rung in the ladder of +success had been climbed, and as I stood under the black +cliffs of this earth's northernmost land I felt that I +looked through the eyes of long experience. Having +reached the end of Nansen Sound, with Svartevoeg on +my left, and the tall, scowling cliffs of Lands-Lokk on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +my right, I viewed for the first time the rough and heavy +ice of the untracked Polar sea, over which, knowing the +conditions of the sea ice, I anticipated the most difficult +part of our journey lay. Imagine before you fields of +crushed ice, glimmering in the rising sunlight with shooting +fires of sapphire and green; fields which have been +slowly forced downward by strong currents from the +north, and pounded and piled in jagged mountainous +heaps for miles about the land. Beyond this difficult ice, +as I knew, lay more even fields, over which traveling, +saving the delays of storms and open leads, would be +comparatively easy. To encompass this rough prospect +was the next step in reaching my goal. I felt that no +time must be lost. At this point I was now to embark +upon the Polar sea; the race for my life's ambition was +to begin here; but first I had finally to resolve on the +details of my campaign.</p> + +<p>I decided to reduce my party to the smallest possible +number consistent with the execution of the problem +in hand. In addition, for greater certainty of +action over the unknown regions beyond, I now definitely +resolved to simplify the entire equipment. An +extra sled was left at the cache at this point to insure +a good vehicle for our return in case the two sleds which +we were to take should be badly broken en route. I +decided to take only two men on the last dash. I had +carefully watched and studied every one of my party, +and had already selected E-tuk-i-shook and Ah-we-lah, +two young Eskimos, each about twenty years old, as best +fitted to be my sole companions in the long run of +destiny.</p> + +<p>Twenty-six of the best dogs were picked, and upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> +two sleds were to be loaded all our needs for a trip estimated +to last eighty days.</p> + +<p>To have increased this party would not have enabled +us to carry supplies for a greater number of days.</p> + +<p>The sleds might have been loaded more heavily, but +I knew this would reduce the important progress of the +first days.</p> + +<p>With the character of ice which we had before us, +advance stations were impossible. A large expedition +and a heavy equipment would have been imprudent. +We must win or lose in a prolonged effort at high pressure. +Therefore, absolute control and ease of adaptability +to a changing environment was imperative.</p> + +<p>From past experience I knew it was impossible to +control adequately the complex human temperament of +white men in the Polar wilderness. But I felt certain +the two Eskimo boys could be trusted to follow to the +limit of my own endurance. So our sleds were burdened +only with absolute necessaries.</p> + +<p>Because of the importance of a light and efficient +equipment, much care had to be taken to reduce every +ounce of weight. The sleds were made of hickory, the +lightest wood consistent with great endurance, and +every needless fibre was gouged out. The iron shoes +were ground thin, and up to the present had stood the +test of half the Polar battle.</p> + +<p>Eliminating everything not actually needed, but +selecting adequate food, I made the final preparations.</p> + +<p>The camp equipment selected included the following +articles: One blow fire lamp (jeuel), three aluminum +pails, three aluminum cups, three aluminum teaspoons, +one tablespoon, three tin plates, six pocket<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> +knives, two butcher knives (ten inches), one saw knife +(thirteen inches), one long knife (fifteen inches), one +rifle (Sharp's), one rifle (Winchester .22), one hundred +and ten cartridges, one hatchet, one Alpine axe, extra +line and lashings, and three personal bags.</p> + +<p>The sled equipment consisted of two sleds weighing +fifty-two pounds each; one twelve-foot folding canvas +boat, the wood of which formed part of a sled; one +silk tent, two canvas sled covers, two reindeer skin sleeping +bags, floor furs, extra wood for sled repairs, screws, +nails and rivets.</p> + +<p>My instruments were as follows: One field glass; +one pocket compass; one liquid compass; one aluminum +surveying compass, with azimuth attachment; one +French surveyor's sextant, with radius 7½, divided on +silver to 10ʹ, reading by Vernier to 10" (among the extra +attachments were a terrestrial and an astronomical telescope, +and an extra night telescope mounted in aluminum, +and also double refracting prisms, thermometers, +etc.—the instrument was made by Hurleman of France +and bought of Keuffel & Esser); one glass artificial +horizon; three Howard pocket chronometers; one Tiffany +watch; one pedometer; map-making material and +instruments; three thermometers; one aneroid barometer; +one camera and films; notebook and pencils.</p> + +<p>The personal bags contained four extra pairs of +kamiks, with fur stockings, a woolen shirt, three pairs of +sealskin mittens, two pairs of fur mittens, a piece of +blanket, a sealskin coat (netsha), extra fox tails and dog +harness, a repair kit for mending clothing, and much +other necessary material.</p> + +<p>On the march we wore snow goggles, blue fox coats<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> +(kapitahs) and birdskin shirts (Ah-tea), bearskin pants +(Nan-nooka), sealskin boots (Kam-ik), hare-skin stockings +(Ah-tee-shah), and a band of fox tails under the +knee and about the waist.</p> + +<p>The food supply, as will be seen by the following +list, was mostly pemmican:</p> + +<p>Eight hundred and five pounds of beef pemmican, +one hundred and thirty pounds of walrus pemmican, +fifty pounds of musk ox tenderloin, twenty-five pounds +of musk ox tallow, two pounds of tea, one pound of +coffee, twenty-five pounds of sugar, forty pounds of +condensed milk, sixty pounds of milk biscuit, ten pounds +of pea soup powdered and compressed, fifty pounds of +surprises, forty pounds petroleum, two pounds of wood +alcohol, three pounds of candles and one pound of +matches.</p> + +<p>We planned our future food supply with pemmican +as practically the sole food; the other things were to be +mere palate satisfiers. For the eighty days the supply +was to be distributed as follows:</p> + +<p>For three men: Pemmican, one pound per day for +eighty days, two hundred and forty pounds. For six +dogs: Pemmican, one pound per day for eighty days, +four hundred and eighty pounds. This necessitated a +total of seven hundred and twenty pounds of pemmican.</p> + +<p>Of the twenty-six dogs, we had at first figured on +taking sixteen over the entire trip to the Pole and back +to our caches on land, but in this last calculation only six +were to be taken. Twenty, the least useful, were to +be used one after the other, as food on the march, as +soon as reduced loads and better ice permitted. This, +we counted, would give one thousand pounds of fresh<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> +meat over and above our pemmican supply. We +carried about two hundred pounds of pemmican +above the expected consumption, and in the final working +out the dogs were used for traction purposes longer +than we anticipated. But, with a cautious saving, the +problem was solved somewhat more economically than +any figuring before the start indicated.</p> + +<p>Every possible article of equipment was made to do +double service; not an ounce of dead weight was carried +which could be dispensed with.</p> + +<p>After making several trips about Svartevoeg, arranging +caches for the return, studying the ice and land, +I decided to make the final start on the Polar sea on +March 18, 1908.</p> + +<p>The time had come to part with most of our faithful +Eskimo companions. Taking their hands in my manner +of parting, I thanked them as well as I could for their +faithful service to me. "<i>Tigishi ah yaung-uluk!</i>" (The +big nail!), they replied, wishing me luck.</p> + +<p>Then, in a half gale blowing from the northwest and +charged with snow, they turned their backs upon me and +started upon the return track. They carried little but +ammunition, because we had learned that plenty of game +was to be provided along the return courses.</p> + +<p>Even after they were out of sight in the drifting +snowstorm their voices came cheerily back to me. The +faithful savages had followed me until told that I could +use them no longer; and it was not only for their simple +pay of knives and guns, but because of a real desire to +be helpful. Their parting enforced a pang of loneliness.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>With a snow-charged blast in our faces it was impossible +for us to start immediately after the Eskimos +returned. Withdrawing to the snow igloo, we entered +our bags and slept a few hours longer. At noon the +horizon cleared. The wind veered to the southwest and +came with an endurable force. Doubly rationed the +night before, the dogs were not to be fed again for two +days. The time had come to start. We quickly loaded +our sleds. Hitching the dogs, we let the whips fall, and +with bounds they leaped around deep ice grooves in the +great paleocrystic floes.</p> + +<p>Our journey was begun. Swept of snow by the +force of the preceding storm, the rough ice crisply +cracked under the swift speed of our sleds. Even on +this uneven surface the dogs made such speed that I kept +ahead of them only with difficulty. Their barking pealed +about us and re-echoed from the black cliffs behind. +Dashing about transparent ultramarine gorges, and +about the base of miniature mountains of ice, we soon +came into a region of undulating icy hills. The hard +irregularity of the ice at times endangered our sleds. +We climbed over ridges like walls. We jumped dangerous +crevasses, keeping slightly west by north; the +land soon sank in the rear of us. Drifting clouds and +wind-driven snows soon screened the tops of black mountains. +Looking behind, I saw only a swirling, moving +scene of dull white and nebulous gray. On every side +ice hummocks heaved their backs and writhed by. Be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>hind +me followed four snugly loaded sleds, drawn by +forty-four selected dogs, under the lash of four expert +Eskimo drivers. The dogs pranced; the joyous cries of +the natives rose and fell. My heart leaped; my soul +sang. I felt my blood throb with each gallop of the leaping +dog teams. The sound of their feet pattering on the +snow, the sight of their shaggy bodies tossing forward, +gave me joy. For every foot of ice covered, every minute +of constant action, drew me nearer, ever nearer, to +my goal.</p> + +<p>Our first run was auspicious; it seemed to augur +success. By the time we paused to rest we had covered +twenty-six miles.</p> + +<p>We pitched camp on a floeberg of unusual height; +about us were many big hummocks, and to the lee of +these banks of hardened snow. Away from land it is +always more difficult to find snow suitable for cutting +building blocks. There, however, was an abundance. +We busily built, in the course of an hour, a comfortable +snow igloo. Into it we crept, grateful for shelter from +the piercing wind.</p> + +<p>The dogs curled up and went to sleep without a call, +as if they knew that there would be no food until to-morrow. +My wild companions covered their faces with their +long hair and sank quietly into slumber. For me sleep +was impossible. The whole problem of our campaign +had again to be carefully studied, and final plans made, +not only to reach our ultimate destination, but for the +two returning Eskimos and for the security of the things +left at Annoatok, and also to re-examine the caches left +en route for our return. These must be protected as +well as possible against the bears and wolves.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p> + +<p>Already I had begun to think of our return to land. +It was difficult at this time even to approximate any +probable course. Much would depend upon conditions +to be encountered in the northward route. Although we +had left caches of supplies with the object of returning +along Nansen Sound, into Cannon Fiord and over +Arthur Land, I entertained grave doubts of our ability +to return this way. I knew that if the ice should drift +strongly to the east we might not be given the choice of +working out our own return. For, in such an event, we +should perhaps be carried helplessly to Greenland, and +should have to seek a return either along the east or +the west coast.</p> + +<p>This drift, in my opinion, would not necessarily +mean dangerous hardships, for the musk oxen would +keep us alive to the west, and to the east it seemed possible +to reach Shannon Island, where the Baldwin-Zeigler +expeditions had abandoned a large cache of supplies. +It appeared not improbable, also, that a large +land extension might offer a safe return much further +west. I fell asleep while pondering over these things. By +morning the air was clear of frost crystals. It was intensely +cold, not only because of a temperature of 56° +below zero, Fahrenheit, but a humid chill which pierced +to the very bones. A light breeze came from the west. +The sun glowed in a freezing field of blue.</p> + +<p>Hitching our dogs, we started. For several hours +we seemed to soar over the white spaces. Then the ice +changed in character, the expansive, thick fields of +glacier-like ice giving way to floes of moderate size and +thickness. These were separated by zones of troublesome +crushed ice thrown into high-pressure lines, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +offered serious barriers. Chopping the pathway with +an ice axe, we managed to make fair progress. We +covered twenty-one miles of our second run on the Polar +sea. I expected, at the beginning of this final effort, +to send back by this time the two extra men, Koo-loo-ting-wah +and In-u-gi-to, who had remained to help us +over the rough pack-ice. But progress had not been as +good as I had expected; so, although we could hardly +spare any food to feed their dogs, the two volunteered +to push along for another day without dog food.</p> + +<p>Taking advantage of big, strong teams and the fire +of early enthusiasm, we aimed to force long distances +through the extremely difficult ice jammed here against +the distant land. The great weight of the supplies intended +for the final two sleds were now distributed over +four sleds. With axe and compass in hand, I led the +way. With prodigious effort I chopped openings +through barriers after barriers of ice. Sled after sled +was passed over the tumbling series of obstacles by my +companions while I advanced to open a way through the +next. With increasing difficulties in some troublesome +ice, we camped after making only sixteen miles. Although +weary, we built a small snowhouse. I prepared +over my stove a pot of steaming musk ox loins and broth +and a double brew of tea. After partaking of this our +two helpers prepared to return. To have taken them +farther would have necessitated a serious drain on our +supplies and an increased danger for their lives in a +longer return to land.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_237.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="DASHING FORWARD EN ROUTE TO THE POLE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">DASHING FORWARD EN ROUTE TO THE POLE</span> +</div> + +<p>By these men I sent back instructions to Rudolph +Francke to remain in charge of my supplies at Annoatok +until June 5th, 1908, and then, if we should not have +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> +returned by that date, to place Koo-loo-ting-wah in charge +and go home either by a whaler or some Danish ship. I +knew that, should we get in trouble, he could offer no +relief to help us, and that his waiting an indefinite time +alone would be a needless hardship.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 545px;"> +<img src="images/illo_238.jpg" width="545" height="800" alt="DEPARTURE OF SUPPORTING PARTY +A BREATHING SPELL +POLEWARD!" title="" /> +<span class="caption">DEPARTURE OF SUPPORTING PARTY<br /> +A BREATHING SPELL<br /> +POLEWARD!</span> +</div> + + +<p>The way before Koo-loo-ting-wah and In-u-gi-to, +who had so cheerfully remained to the last possible moment +that they could be of help, was not an entirely +pleasant one. Their friends were by now well on their +journey toward Annoatok, and they had to start after +them with sleds empty of provisions and dogs hungry for +food.</p> + +<p>They hoped to get back to land and off the ice of +the Polar sea in one long day's travel of twenty-four +hours. Even this would leave their fourth day without +food for their dogs. In case of storms or moving of +the ice, other days of famine might easily fall to their lot. +However, they faced possible dangers cheerfully rather +than ask me to give them anything from the stores that +were to support their two companions, myself and our +dogs on our way onward to the Pole and back. I was +deeply touched by this superlative devotion. They assured +me too (in which they were right) that they had +an abundance of possible food in the eighteen dogs they +took with them. If necessary, they could sacrifice a few +at any time for the benefit of the others, as must often +be done in the Northland.</p> + +<p>There were no formalities in our parting on the +desolate ice. Yet, as the three of us who were left +alone gazed after our departing companions, we felt a +poignant pang in our hearts. About us was a cheerless +waste of crushed wind-and-water-driven ice. A sharp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> +wind stung our faces. The sun was obscured by clouds +which piled heavily and darkly about the horizon. The +cold and brilliant jeweled effects of the frozen sea were +lost in a dismal hue of dull white and sombre gray. On +the horizon, Svartevoeg, toward which the returning +Eskimos were bound, was but a black speck. To the +north, where our goal lay, our way was untrodden, unknown. +The thought came to me that perhaps we +should never see our departing friends. With it came +a pang of tenderness for the loved ones I had left behind +me. Although our progress so far had been successful, +and half the distance was made, dangers unknown +and undreamed of existed in the way before us. +My Eskimos already showed anxiety—an anxiety which +every aboriginal involuntarily feels when land disappears +on the horizon. Never venturing themselves far +onto the Polar sea, when they lose sight of land a panic +overcomes them. Before leaving us one of the departing +Eskimos had pointed out a low-lying cloud to the +north of us. "Noona" (land), he said, nodding to the +others. The thought occurred to me that, on our trip, +I could take advantage of the mirages and low clouds +on the horizon and encourage a belief in a constant nearness +to land, thus maintaining their courage and cheer.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>Regrets and fears were not long-lasting, however,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> +for the exigencies of our problem were sufficiently imperative +and absorbing. To the overcoming of these we +had now to devote our entire attention and strain every +fibre.</p> + +<p>We had now advanced, by persistent high-pressure +efforts, over the worst possible ice conditions, somewhat +more than sixty miles. Of the 9° between land's end +and the Pole, we had covered one; and we had done this +without using the pound of food per day allotted each of +us out of the eighty days' supply transported.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 480px;"> +<img src="images/illo_241.jpg" width="480" height="525" alt="POLAR BEAR" title="" /> +<span class="caption">POLAR BEAR</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="OVER_THE_POLAR_SEA_TO_THE_BIG_LEAD" id="OVER_THE_POLAR_SEA_TO_THE_BIG_LEAD"></a>OVER THE POLAR SEA TO THE BIG LEAD</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">WITH TWO ESKIMO COMPANIONS, THE RACE POLEWARD +CONTINUES OVER ROUGH AND DIFFICULT ICE—THE +LAST LAND FADES BEHIND—MIRAGES LEAP INTO +BEING AND WEAVE A MYSTIC SPELL—A SWIRLING +SCENE OF MOVING ICE AND FANTASTIC EFFECTS—STANDING +ON A HILL OF ICE, A BLACK, WRITHING, +SNAKY CUT APPEARS IN THE ICE BEYOND—THE BIG +LEAD—A NIGHT OF ANXIETY—FIVE HUNDRED MILES +ALREADY COVERED—FOUR HUNDRED TO THE POLE</p> + +<h3>XIV<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">To Eighty-Third Parallel</span></h3> + + +<p>Our party, thus reduced to three, went onward. +Although the isolation was more oppressive, there were +the advantages of the greater comfort, safety, speed and +convenience that came from having only a small band. +The large number of men in a big expedition always +increases responsibilities and difficulties. In the early +part of a Polar venture this disadvantage is eliminated +by the facilities to augment supplies by the game en +route and by ultimate advantages of the law of the survival +of the fittest. But after the last supporting sleds +return, the men are bound to each other for protection +and can no longer separate. A disabled or unfitted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +dog can be fed to his companions, but an injured or +weak man cannot be eaten nor left alone to die. An +exploring venture is only as strong as its weakest member, +and increased numbers, like increased links in a +chain, reduce efficiency.</p> + +<p>Moreover, personal idiosyncrasies and inconveniences +always shorten a day's march. And, above all, a +numerous party quickly divides into cliques, which are +always opposed to each other, to the leader, and invariably +to the best interests of the problem in hand. +With but two savage companions, to whom this arduous +task was but a part of an accustomed life of frost, I did +not face many of the natural personal barriers which contributed +to the failure of former Arctic expeditions.</p> + +<p>In my judgment, when you double a Polar party +its chances for success are reduced one-half; when you +divide it, strength and security are multiplied.</p> + +<p>We had been traveling about two and one-half miles +per hour. By making due allowances for detours and +halts at pressure lines, the number of hours traveled +gave us a fair estimate of the day's distance. Against +this the pedometer offered a check, and the compass +gave the course. Thus, over blank charts, our course +was marked.</p> + +<p>By this kind of dead reckoning our position on +March 20 was: Latitude, 82° 23ʹ; Longitude, 95° 14ʹ. +A study of our location seemed to indicate that we had +passed beyond the zone of ice crushed by the influence +of land pressure. Behind were great hummocks and +small ice; ahead was a cheerful expanse of larger, clearer +fields, offering a promising highway.</p> + +<p>Our destination was now about four hundred and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> +sixty miles beyond. Our life, with its pack environment, +assumed another aspect. Previously we permitted +ourselves some luxuries. A pound of coal oil +and a good deal of musk ox tallow were burned each day +to heat the igloo and to cook abundant food. Extra +meals were served when occasion called for them, and +for each man there had been all the food and drink he +desired. If the stockings or the mittens were wet there +was fire enough to dry them out. All of this had now +to be changed.</p> + +<p>Hereafter there was to be a short daily allowance +of food and fuel—one pound of pemmican a day for the +dogs, about the same for the men, with just a taste of +other things. Fortunately, we were well provided with +fresh meat for the early part of the race by the lucky run +through game lands. Because of the need of fuel +economy we now cut our pemmican with an axe. Later +it split the axe.</p> + +<p>At first no great hardship followed our changed +routine. We filled up sufficiently on two cold meals +daily and also depended on superfluous bodily tissue. +It was no longer possible to jump on the sled for an +occasional breathing spell, as we had done along the +land.</p> + +<p>Such a journey as now confronted us is a long-continued, +hard, difficult, sordid, body-exhausting thing. +Each day some problem presents some peculiar condition +of the ice or state of the weather. The effort, for +instance, to form some shield from intense cold gives +added interest to the game. That one thing after another +is being met, with always the anticipation of next +day's struggle, adds a thrill to the conquest, spurs one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> +to greater and ever greater feats, and really constitutes +the actual victory of such a quest. With overloaded +sleds the drivers must now push and pull at them to aid +the dogs. My task was to search the troubled ice for +easy routes, cutting away here and there with the ice-axe +to permit the passing of the sleds.</p> + +<p>Finally stripping for the race, man and dog must +walk along together through storms and frost for the +elusive goal. Success or failure must depend mostly +upon our ability to transport nourishment and to keep +up the muscular strength for a prolonged period.</p> + +<p>As we awoke on the morning of March 21 and +peered out of the eye-port of the igloo, the sun edged +along the northeast. A warm orange glow suffused the +ice and gladdened our hearts. The temperature was +63° below zero, Fahrenheit; the barometer was steady +and high. There was almost no wind. Not a cloud +lined the dome of pale purple blue, but a smoky streak +along the west shortened our horizon in that direction +and marked a lead of open water.</p> + +<p>Our breakfast consisted of two cups of tea, a watch-sized +biscuit, a chip of frozen meat and a boulder of +pemmican. Creeping out of our bags, our shivering +legs were pushed through bearskin cylinders which +served as trousers. We worked our feet into frozen +boots and then climbed into fur coats. Next we kicked +the front out of the snowhouse and danced about to +stimulate heart action.</p> + +<p>Quickly the camp furnishings were tossed on the +sleds and securely lashed. We gathered the dog traces +into the drag lines, vigorously snapped the long whips, +and the willing creatures bent to the shoulder straps.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> +The sleds groaned. The unyielding snows gave a +metallic ring. The train moved with a cheerful pace.</p> + +<p>"<i>Am-my noona terronga dosangwah</i>" (Perhaps +land will be out of sight today), we said to one another.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> +But the words did not come with serious intent. In +truth, each in his own way felt keenly that we were leaving +a world of life and possible comfort for one of torment +and suffering. Axel Heiberg Land, to the south, +was already only a dull blue haze, while Grant Land, on +the eastward, was making fantastic figures of its peaks +and ice walls. The ice ran in waves of undulating blue, +shimmering with streams of gold, before us. Behind, +the last vestiges of jagged land rose and fell like marionettes +dancing a wild farewell. Our heart-pulls were +backward, our mental kicks were forward.</p> + +<p>Until now this strange white world had been one +of grim reality. As though some unseen magician had +waved his wand, it was suddenly transformed into a +land of magic. Leaping into existence, as though from +realms beyond the horizon, huge mirages wove a web of +marvelous delusional pictures about the horizon. Peaks +of snow were transformed into volcanoes, belching +smoke; out of the pearly mist rose marvelous cities with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> +fairy-like castles; in the color-shot clouds waved golden +and rose and crimson pennants from pinnacles and +domes of mosaic-colored splendor. Huge creatures, +misshapen and grotesque, writhed along the horizon and +performed amusing antics.</p> + +<p>Beginning now, and rarely absent, these spectral +denizens of the North accompanied us during the entire +journey; and later, when, fagged of brain and sapped +of bodily strength, I felt my mind swimming in a sea +of half-consciousness, they filled me almost with horror, +impressing me as the monsters one sees in a nightmare.</p> + +<p>At every breathing spell in the mad pace our heads +now turned to land. Every look was rewarded by a +new prospect. From belching volcanoes to smoking +cities of modern bustle, the mirages gave a succession of +striking scenes which filled me with awed and marveling +delight. A more desolate line of coast could not be +imagined. Along its edge ran low wind-swept and +wind-polished mountains. These were separated by +valleys filled with great depths of snow and glacial ice.</p> + +<p>Looking northward, the sky line was clear of the +familiar pinnacles of icebergs. In the immediate +vicinity many small bergs were seen; some of these were +grounded, and the pack thus anchored was thrown in +huge uplifts of pressure lines and hummocks. The sea, +as is thereby determined, is very shallow for a long distance +from land.</p> + +<p>This interior accumulation of snow moves slowly to +the sea, where it forms a low ice wall, a glacier of the +Malaspina type. Its appearance is more like that of +heavy sea ice; hence the name of the paleocrystic ice, +fragments from this glacier, floebergs, which, seen in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> +Lincoln Sea and resembling old floes, were supposed to +be the product of the ancient upbuilding of the ice of +the North Polar Sea.</p> + +<p>Snapping our whips and urging the dogs, we traveled +until late in the afternoon, mirages constantly +appearing and melting about us. Now the land suddenly +settled downward as if by an earthquake. The +pearly glitter, which had raised and magnified it, darkened. +A purple fabric fell over the horizon and merged +imperceptibly into the lighter purple blue of the upper +skies. We saw the land, however, at successive periods +for several days. This happened whenever the atmosphere +was in the right condition to elevate the terrestrial +contour lines by refracting sun rays.</p> + +<p>Every condition favored us on this march. The +wind was not strong and struck us at an angle, permitting +us to guard our noses by pushing a mitten under +our hoods or by raising a fur-clad hand.</p> + +<p>We had not been long in the field, however, when +the wind, that ever-present dragon guardian of the unseen +northern monarch's demesne, began to suck +strength from our bodies. Shortly before Grant Land +entirely faded the monster fawned on us with gentle +breathing.</p> + +<p>The snow was hard, and the ice, in fairly large +fields separated by pressure lines, offered little resistance. +On March 21, at the end of a forced effort of +fourteen hours, the register indicated a progress of +twenty-nine miles.</p> + +<p>Too weary to build an igloo, we threw ourselves +thoughtlessly upon the sleds for a short rest, and fell +asleep. I was awakened from my fitful slumber by a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> +feeling of compression, as if stifling arms hideously +gripped me. It was the wind. I breathed with difficulty. +I struggled to my feet, and about me hissed and +wailed the dismal sound. It was a sharp warning to us +that to sleep without the shelter of an igloo would probably +mean death.</p> + +<p>On the heavy floe upon which we rested were several +large hummocks. To the lee of one of these we +found suitable snow for a shelter.</p> + +<p>Lines of snowy vapor were rushing over the pack. +The wind came with rapidly increasing force. We +erected the house, however, before we suffered severely +from the blast. We crept into it out of the storm and +nested in warm furs.</p> + +<p>The wind blew fiercely throughout the night. By +the next morning, March 22, the storm had eased to +a steady, light breeze. The temperature was 59° below +zero. We emerged from our igloo at noon. Although +the cheerless gray veil had been swept from the frigid +dome of the sky, to the north appeared a low black line +over a pearly cloud which gave us much uneasiness. +This was a narrow belt of "water-sky," which indicated +open water or very thin ice at no great distance.</p> + +<p>The upper surface of Grant Land was now a mere +thin pen line on the edge of the horizon. But a play of +land clouds above it attracted the eyes to the last known +rocks of solid earth. We now felt keenly the piercing +cold of the Polar sea. The temperature gradually rose +to 46° F. below zero, in the afternoon, but there was +a deadly chill in the long shadows which increased with +the swing of the lowering sun.</p> + +<p>A life-sapping draught, which sealed the eyes and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> +bleached the nose, still hissed over the frozen sea. We +had hoped that this would soften with the midday sun. +Instead, it came with a more cutting sharpness. In the +teeth of the wind we persistently pursued a course +slightly west of north. The wind was slightly north of +west. It struck us at a painful angle and brought +tears. Our moistened lashes quickly froze together as +we winked, and when we rubbed them and drew apart +the lids the icicles broke the tender skin. Our breath +froze on our faces. Often we had to pause, uncover +our hands and apply the warm palms to the face before +it was possible to see.</p> + +<p>Every minute thus lost filled me with impatience +and dismay. Minutes of traveling were as precious as +bits of gold to a hoarding miser.</p> + +<p>In the course of a brief time our noses became +tipped with a white skin and also required nursing. My +entire face was now surrounded with ice, but there was +no help for it. If we were to succeed the face must be +bared to the cut of the elements. So we must suffer. +We continued, urging the dogs and struggling with the +wind just as a drowning man fights for life in a storm +at sea.</p> + +<p>About six o'clock, as the sun crossed the west, we +reached a line of high-pressure ridges. Beyond these +the ice was cut into smaller floes and thrown together +into ugly irregularities. According to my surmises, an +active pack and troubled seas could not be far away. +The water-sky widened, but became less sharply defined.</p> + +<p>We laboriously picked a way among hummocks and +pressure lines which seemed impossible from a distance. +Our dogs panted with the strain; my limbs ached. In a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> +few hours we arrived at the summit of an unusual uplift +of ice blocks. Looking ahead, my heart pained as if in +the grip of an iron hand. My hopes sank within me. +Twisting snake-like between the white field, and separating +the packs, was a tremendous cut several miles +wide, which seemed at the time to bar all further progress. +It was the Big Lead, that great river separating +the land-adhering ice from the vast grinding fields of +the central pack beyond, at which many heroic men before +me had stopped. I felt the dismay and heartsickness +of all of them within me now. The wind, blowing +with a vengeful wickedness, laughed sardonically in my +ears.</p> + +<p>Of course we had our folding canvas boat on the +sleds. But in this temperature of 48° below zero I knew +no craft could be lowered into water without fatal results. +All of the ice about was firmly cemented together, +and over it we made our way toward the edge of the +water line.</p> + +<p>Passing through pressure lines, over smaller and +more troublesome fields, we reached the shores of the +Big Lead. We had, by two encouraging marches, covered +fifty miles. The first hundred miles of our journey +on the Polar pack had been covered. The Pole was +four hundred miles beyond!</p> + +<p>Camp was pitched on a secure old ice field. Cutting +through huge ice cliffs, the dark crack seemed like +a long river winding between palisades of blue crystal. +A thin sheet of ice had already spread over the mysterious +deep. On its ebony mirrored surface a profusion of +fantastic frost crystals arranged themselves in bunches +resembling white and saffron-colored flowers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p> + +<p>Through the apertures of this young ice dark +vapors rose like steam through a screen of porous fabrics +and fell in feathers of snow along the sparkling shores. +After partaking of a boulder of pemmican, E-tuk-i-shook +went east and I west to examine the lead of water +for a safe crossing. There were several narrow places, +while here and there floes which had been adrift in the +lead were now fixed by young ice. Ah-we-lah remained +behind to make our snowhouse comfortable.</p> + +<p>For a long time this huge separation in the pack +had been a mystery to me. At first sight there seemed +to be no good reason for its existence. Peary had found +a similar break north of Robeson Channel. It was +likely that what we saw was an extension of the same, +following at a distance the general trend of the northernmost +land extension.</p> + +<p>This is precisely what one finds on a smaller scale +when two ice packs come together. Here the pack of +the central polar sea meets the land-adhering ice. +The movement of the land pack is intermittent and +usually along the coast. The shallows, grounded ice +and projecting points interfere with a steady drift. The +movement of the central pack is quite constant, in +almost every direction, the tides, currents and winds +each giving momentum to the floating mass. The lead +is thus the breaking line between the two bodies of ice. +It widens as the pack separates, and narrows or widens +with an easterly or westerly drift, according to the +pressure of the central pack. Early in the season, when +the pack is crevassed and not elastic, it is probably wide; +later, as the entire sea of ice becomes active, it may disappear +or shift to a line nearer the land.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p> + +<p>In low temperature new ice forms rapidly. This +offers an obstruction to the drift of the old ice. As the +heavy central pack is pressed against the unyielding +land pack the small ice is ground to splinters, and even +heavy floes are crushed. This reduced mass of small +ice is pasted and cemented along the shores of the Big +Lead, leaving a broad band of troublesome surface as +a serious barrier to sled travel. It seems quite probable +that this lead, or a condition similar to it, extends entirely +around the Polar sea as a buffer between the land +and the middle pack.</p> + +<p>In exploring the shore line, a partially bridged +place was found about a mile from camp, but the young +ice was too elastic for a safe track. The temperature, +however, fell rapidly with the setting sun, and the wind +was just strong enough to sweep off the heated vapors. +I knew better atmospheric condition could not be +afforded quickly to thicken the young ice.</p> + +<p>Returning to camp that night, we surprised our +stomachs by a little frozen musk ox tenderloin and +tallow, the greatest delicacy in our possession. Then +we retired. Ice was our pillow. Ice was our bed. A +dome of snow above us held off the descending liquid air +of frost. Outside the wind moaned. Shudderingly, +the deep howl of the dogs rolled over the ice. Lying on +the sheeted deep, beneath my ears I heard the noise of +the moving, grinding, crashing pack. It sounded terrifyingly +like a distant thunder of guns. I could not +sleep. Sick anxiety filled me. Could we cross the +dreadful river on the morrow? Would the ice freeze? +Or might the black space not hopelessly widen during +the night? I lay awake, shivering with cold. I felt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +within me the blank loneliness of the thousands of desolate +miles about me.</p> + +<p>One hundred miles of the unknown had been covered; +five hundred miles of the journey from our winter +camp were behind us. Beyond, to the goal, lay four +hundred unknown miles. Nothing dearly desired of +man ever seemed so far away.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 325px;"> +<img src="images/illo_254.jpg" width="325" height="448" alt="ESKIMO TORCH" title="" /> +<span class="caption">ESKIMO TORCH</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p> +<h2>CROSSING MOVING SEAS OF ICE</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">CROSSING THE LEAD—THE THIN ICE HEAVES LIKE A +SHEET OF RUBBER—CREEPING FORWARD CAUTIOUSLY, +THE TWO DANGEROUS MILES ARE COVERED—BOUNDING +PROGRESS MADE OVER IMPROVING ICE—THE +FIRST HURRICANE—DOGS BURIED AND FROZEN +INTO MASSES IN DRIFTS OF SNOW—THE ICE PARTS +THROUGH THE IGLOO—WAKING TO FIND ONE'S SELF +FALLING INTO THE COLD SEA.</p> + +<h3>XV<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">The First Steps Over the Grinding Central Pack</span></h3> + + +<p>Ill at ease and shivering, we rose from our crystal +berths on March 23 and peeped out of a pole-punched +porthole. A feeble glow of mystic color came from +everywhere at once. Outside, toward a sky of dull purple, +columns of steam-like vapor rose from open ice +water, resembling vapors from huge boiling cauldrons. +We sank with chattering teeth to our cheerless beds and +quivered with the ghostly unreality of this great vibrating +unknown.</p> + +<p>Long before the suppressed incandescent night +changed to the prism sparkle of day we were out seeking +a way over the miles of insecure young ice separating +us from the central pack. On our snowshoes, +with an easy tread, spread feet and with long life lines<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> +tied to each other, we ventured to the opposite shores of +that dangerous spread of young ice. Beyond, the central +pack glittered in moving lines and color, like quicksilver +shot with rainbow hues.</p> + +<p>The Big Lead was mottled and tawny colored, like +the skin of a great constrictor. As we stood and looked +over its broad expanse to the solid floes, two miles off, +there came premonitions to me of impending danger. +Would the ice bear us? If it broke, and the life line +was not quickly jerked, our fate would almost certainly +be sure death. Sontag, the astronomer of Dr. Hay's +Expedition, thus lost his life. Many others have in like +manner gone to the bottomless deep. On two occasions +during the previous winter I had thus gone through, but +the life line had saved me. What would be our fate +here? But, whatever the luck, we must cross. I knew +delay was fatal, for at any time a very light wind or a +change in the drift might break the new ice and delay +us long enough to set the doom of failure upon our +entire venture.</p> + +<p>Every precaution was taken to safeguard our lives. +The most important problem was to distribute the +weight so that all of it would not be brought to bear on +a small area. We separated our dog teams from the +sleds, holding to long lines which were fastened about +our bodies and also to the sleds. The sleds were hitched +to each other by another long line.</p> + +<p>With bated breath and my heart thumping, I advanced +at the end of a long line which was attached to +the first sled, and picked my way through the crushed +and difficult ice along shore. With the life-saving +line fastened to each one of us, we were insured against<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> +possible dangers as well as forethought could provide. +Running from sled to sled, from dog to dog, and man +to man, it would afford a pulling chance for life should +anyone break through the ice. It seemed unlikely that +the ice along the entire chain would break at once, but +its cracking under the step of one of us seemed probable.</p> + +<p>I knew, as I gently placed my foot upon the thin +yellowish surface, that at any moment I might sink into +an icy grave. Yet a spirit of bravado thrilled my heart. +I felt the grip of danger, and also that thrill of exultation +which accompanies its terror.</p> + +<p>Gently testing the ice before me with the end of +my axe, with spread legs, on snowshoes, with long, sliding +steps, I slowly advanced.</p> + +<p>A dangerous cracking sound pealed in every direction +under my feet. The Eskimos followed. With +every tread the thin sheet ice perceptibly sank under +me, and waved, in small billows, like a sheet of rubber.</p> + +<p>Stealthily, as though we were trying to filch some +victory, we crept forward. We rocked on the heaving +ice as a boat on waves of water. Now and then we +stepped upon sheets of thicker ice, and hastily went forward +with secure footing. None of us spoke during the +dangerous crossing. I heard distinctly the panting of +the dogs and the patter of their feet. We covered the +two miles safely, yet our snail-like progress seemed to +cover many anxious years.</p> + +<p>I cannot describe the exultation which filled me +when the crossing was accomplished. It seemed as +though my goal itself were stretching toward me. I experienced +a sense of unbounded victory. I could have +cheered with joy. Intoxicated with it, I and my com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>panions +leaped forward, new cheer quickening our steps. +The dangers to come seemed less formidable now, and +as we journeyed onward it was the mastering of these, +as did our accomplishment in crossing the Big Lead, +which gave us a daily incentive to continue our way and +ever to apply brain and muscle to the subduing of even +greater difficulties with zest.</p> + +<p>It was in doing this that the real thrill, the real +victory—the only thrill and victory, indeed—of reaching +the North Pole lay. The attaining of this mythical +spot did not then, and does not now, seem in itself to +mean anything; I did not then, and do not now, consider +it the treasure-house of any great scientific secrets. +The only thing to be gained from reaching the Pole, the +triumph of it, the lesson in the accomplishment, is that +man, by brain power and muscle energy, can subdue the +most terrific forces of a blind nature if he is determined +enough, courageous enough, and undauntedly persistent +despite failure.</p> + +<p>On my journey northward I felt the ever constant +presence of those who had died in trying to reach the +goal before me. There were times when I felt a startling +nearness to them—a sense like that one has of the proximity +of living beings in an adjoining room. I felt the +goad of their hopes within me; I felt the steps of their +dead feet whenever my feet touched the ice. I felt their +unfailing determination revive me when I was tempted +to turn back in the days of inhuman suffering that were +to come. I felt that I, the last man to essay this goal, +must for them justify humanity; that I must crown three +centuries of human effort with success.</p> + +<p>With the perilous Big Lead behind us, a bounding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> +course was set to reach the eighty-fifth parallel on the +ninety-seventh meridian. What little movement was +noted on the ice had been easterly. To allow for this +drift we aimed to keep a line slightly west of the Pole.</p> + +<p>We bounded northward joyously. Under our +speeding feet the ice reverberated and rumbled with the +echo of far-away splitting and crashing.</p> + +<p>The sun sank into a haze like mother-of-pearl. Our +pathway glowed with purple and orange. We paused +only when the pale purple blue of night darkened the +pack.</p> + +<p>Starting forward in the afternoon of March 24, +we crossed many small floes with low-pressure lines +separated by narrow belts of new ice. Our speed increased. +At times we could hardly keep pace with our +dogs. The temperature rose to forty-one below zero. +The western sky cleared slightly. Along the horizon +remained misty appearances resembling land. This +low-lying fog continued during our entire second hundred +miles over the Polar basin. Under it we daily +expected to see new land.</p> + +<p>But Nature did not satisfy our curiosity for a long +time. Both Ah-we-lah and E-tuk-i-shook were sure +of a constant nearness to land. Because of the native +panic out of its reassuring sight, I encouraged this belief, +as I did concerning every other possible sign of land +further northward. I knew that only by encouraging a +delusion of nearness to land could I urge them ever +farther in the face of the hardships that must inevitably +come.</p> + +<p>An altitude of the sun at noon on March 24 gave +our position as latitude 83° 31ʹ. The longitude was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> +estimated at 96° 27ʹ. The land clouds of Grant Land +were still visible. The low bank of mist in the west +occasionally brightened. For a while I believed this to +be an indication of Crocker Land.</p> + +<p>Until midday I took observations and endeavored +to study the appearances of land. Our dogs sniffed the +air as if scenting game. After a diligent search, one +seal blow-hole was located, and later we saw an old bear +track. No algæ or other small life was detected in the +water between the ice crevices. At the Big Lead a few +algæ had been gathered. But here the sea seemed +sterile. Signs of seal and bear, however, were encouraging +to us as possible future food supply. In returning, +I calculated the season would be more advanced, +and it was possible that life might move northward, thus +permitting an extension of the time allowance of our +rations.</p> + +<p>Although the heat of the sun was barely felt, its +rays began to pierce our eyes with painful effects. Reflected +from the spotless surface of the storm-driven +snows, the bright light could not long be endured without +some protection, even by the Eskimos. Now came +the time to test a simple expedient that had occurred to +me at Annoatok. Amber-colored goggles, darkened or +smoked glasses and ordinary automobile goggles had all +been tried with indifferent results. They failed for one +reason or another, mostly because of an insufficient +range of vision or because of a faulty construction that +made it impossible to proceed more than a few minutes +without removing the accumulated condensation within +them. At Annoatok I had made amber-colored goggles +from the glass of my photographic supplies. By<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> +adjusting them I soon found they were a priceless discovery. +They entirely eliminated one of the greatest +torments of Arctic travel.</p> + +<p>While effectually screening the active rays that +would have injured the eye, these amber glasses at the +same time possessed the inestimable advantage of not +interfering with the range of vision.</p> + +<p>Relieved of the snow glare, the eye was better enabled +to see distant objects than through field glasses. +It is frequently extremely difficult to detect icy surface +irregularities on cloudy days. The amber glass dispelled +this trouble perfectly, enabling the eye to search +carefully every nook and crevice through the vague incandescence +which blinds the observer in hazy weather. +The glasses did not reduce the <i>quantity</i> of light, as do +smoked glasses, but the <i>quality</i>; the actinic rays, which +do the greatest harm, were eliminated. We were not +only relieved of the pain and fatigue of eye strain, but +the color imparted a touch of cheer and warmth to our +chilled blue horizon. The usual snow goggles add to +the ugly gray-blue of the frozen seas, which alone sends +frosty waves through the nervous fibers.</p> + +<p>So thoroughly delighted were we with these goggles +that later we wore them even in igloos while asleep, with +the double object of screening the strong light which +passes through the eyelids and of keeping the forehead +warm.</p> + +<p>On our march in the early part of the afternoon of +the 24th the weather proved good. The ice, though +newly crevassed, improved as we advanced. The late +start spread our day's work close to the chill of midnight. +When we started the wind blew kindly. With<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> +glad hearts we forged forward without delays. On the +ice I heard the soft patter of swift dog feet and the dashing, +cutting progress of the sleds. As a scene viewed +from a carousel, the field of ice swept around me in our +dizzy, twisting progress. We swept resistlessly onward +for twenty-three miles. As we had taken a zigzag +course to follow smooth ice, I therefore recorded only +eighteen miles to our credit.</p> + +<p>The night was beautiful. The sun sank into a purple +haze. Soon, in the magic of the atmosphere, +appeared three suns of prismatic colors. These settled +slowly into the frozen sea and disappeared behind that +persistent haze of obscuring mist which always rests over +the pack when the sun is low. During the night a narrow +band of orange was flung like a ribbon across the +northern skies. The pack surface glowed with varying +shades of violet, lilac and pale purplish blue. Many +such splendid sights are to be constantly seen in the +Arctic. Although I reveled in it now, the time was +soon to come when weariness and hunger numbed my +faculties into a dreary torpor in which the splendor was +not seen.</p> + +<p>Signs appeared of a gale from the west before we +were quite ready to camp. Little sooty clouds with +ragged edges suddenly began to cover the sky, scurrying +at an alarming pace. Beyond us a huge smoky volume +of cloud blackened the pearly glitter.</p> + +<p>Suitable camping ice was sought. In the course of +an hour we built an igloo. We made the structure +stronger than usual on account of the threatening storm. +We constructed double tiers of snow blocks to the windward. +A little water was thrown over the top to cement<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> +the blocks. We fastened the dogs to the lee of hummocks. +The sleds were securely lashed and fastened to +the ice.</p> + +<p>We expected a hurricane, and had not to wait to +taste its fury. Before we were at rest in our bags the +wind lashed the snows with a force inconceivable. With +rushing drift, the air thickened. Dogs and sleds in a +few minutes were buried under banks of snow and great +drifts encircled the igloo. The cemented blocks of our +dome withstood the sweep of the blast well. Yet, now +and then, small holes were burrowed through the snow +wall by the sharp wind. Drift entered and covered us. +I lay awake for hours. I felt the terrible oppression of +that raging, life-sucking vampire force sweeping over +the desolate world. Disembodied things—the souls of +those, perhaps, who had perished here—seemed frenziedly +calling me in the wind. I felt under me the surge +of the sweeping, awful sea. I felt the desolation of this +stormy world within my shuddering soul; but, withal, I +throbbed with a determination to assert the supremacy +of living man over these blind, insensate forces; to prove +that the living brain and palpitating muscle of a finite +though conscious creature could vanquish a hostile +Nature which creates to kill. I burned to justify those +who had died here; to fulfill by proxy their hopes; to +set their calling souls at rest. The storm waked in me +an angry, challenging determination.</p> + +<p>Early in the morning of the 25th the storm ceased +as suddenly as it had come. A stillness followed which +was appalling. It seemed as if the storm had heard my +thoughts and paused to contemplate some more dreadful +onslaught. The dogs began to howl desperately, as if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> +attacked by a bear. We rushed out of our igloo, seeking +guns. There was no approaching creature. It +was, however, a signal of serious distress that we had +heard. The dogs were in acute misery. The storm-driven +snows had buried and bound them in unyielding +ice. They had partly uncovered themselves. United +by trace and harness, they were imprisoned in frozen +masses. Few of them could even rise and stretch. They +were in severe torment.</p> + +<p>We hurriedly freed their traces and beat the +cemented snows from their furs with sticks. Released, +they leaped about gladly, their cries, curling tails and +pointed noses telling of gratitude. While we danced +about, stretching our limbs and rubbing our hands to get +up circulation, the sun rose over the northern blue, flushing +the newly driven snows with warm tones. The temperature +during the storm had risen to only 26° below, +but soon the thermometer sank rapidly below 40°. The +west was still smoky and the weather did not seem quite +settled. As it was still too early to start, we again +slipped into the bags and sought quiet slumber.</p> + +<p>As yet the dreadful insomnia which was to rob me +of rest on my journey had not come, and I slept with the +blissful soundness of a child. I must have been asleep +several hours, when, of a sudden, I opened my eyes.</p> + +<p>Terror gripped my heart. Loud explosive noises +reverberated under my head. It seemed as though +bombs were torn asunder in the depths of the cold sea +beneath me. I lay still, wondering if I were dreaming. +The sounds echoingly died away. Looking about the +igloo, I detected nothing unusual. I saw Ah-we-lah +and E-tuk-i-shook staring at me with wide-open fright<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>ened +eyes. I arose and peeped through the eye port. +The fields of ice without reflected the warm light of the +rising sun in running waves of tawny color. The ice +was undisturbed. An unearthly quiet prevailed. Concluding +that the ice was merely cracking under the sudden +change of temperature, in quite the usual harmless +manner, I turned over again, reassuring my companions, +and promptly fell asleep.</p> + +<p>Out of the blankness of sleep I suddenly wakened +again. Half-dazed, I heard beneath me a series of +echoing, thundering noises. I felt the ice floor on which +I lay quivering. I experienced the sudden giddiness +one feels on a tossing ship at sea. In the flash of a second +I saw Ah-we-lah leap to his feet. In the same dizzy +instant I saw the dome of the snowhouse open above me; +I caught a vision of the gold-streaked sky. My instinct +at the moment was to leap. I think I tried to rise, when +suddenly everything seemed lifted from under me; I experienced +the suffocating sense of falling, and next, with +a spasm of indescribable horror, felt about my body a +terrific tightening pressure like that of a chilled and closing +shell of steel, driving the life and breath from me.</p> + +<p>In an instant it was clear what had happened. A +crevasse had suddenly opened through our igloo, +directly under the spot whereon I slept; and I, a helpless +creature in a sleeping bag, with tumbling snow blocks +and ice and snow crashing about and crushing me, with +the temperature 48° below zero, was floundering in the +opening sea!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p> +<h2>LAND DISCOVERED</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">FIGHTING PROGRESS THROUGH CUTTING COLD AND TERRIFIC +STORMS—LIFE BECOMES A MONOTONOUS ROUTINE +OF HARDSHIP—THE POLE INSPIRES WITH ITS +RESISTLESS LURE—NEW LAND DISCOVERED BEYOND +THE EIGHTY-FOURTH PARALLEL—MORE THAN TWO +HUNDRED MILES FROM SVARTEVOEG—THE FIRST SIX +HUNDRED MILES COVERED</p> + +<h3>XVI<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">Three Hundred Miles to the Apex of the World</span></h3> + + +<p>I think I was about to swoon when I felt hands +beneath my armpits and heard laughter in my ears. +With an adroitness such as only these natives possess, +my two companions were dragging me from the water. +And while I lay panting on the ice, recovering +from my fright, I saw them expeditiously rescue our +possessions.</p> + +<p>It seemed that all this happened so quickly that +I had really been in the water only a few moments. My +two companions saw the humor of the episode and +laughed heartily. Although I had been in the water +only a brief time, a sheet of ice surrounded my sleeping +bag. Fortunately, however, the reindeer skin was +found to be quite dry when the ice was beaten off. The +experience, while momentarily terrifying, was instruc<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>tive, +for it taught us the danger of spreading ice, especially +in calms following storms.</p> + +<p>Gratitude filled my heart. I fully realized how +narrow had been the escape of all of us. Had we slept +a few seconds longer we should all have disappeared in +the opening crevasse. The hungry Northland would +again have claimed its human sacrifice.</p> + +<p>The ice about was much disturbed. Numerous +black lines of water opened on every side; from these +oozed jets of frosty, smoke-colored vapor. The difference +between the temperature of the sea and that of the +air was 76°. With this contrast, the open spots of ice-water +appeared to be boiling.</p> + +<p>Anxious to move along, away from the troubled +angle of ice, our usual breakfast was simplified. Melting +some snow, we drank the icy liquid as an eye-opener, +and began our ration of a half-pound boulder of pemmican. +But with cold fingers, blue lips and no possible +shelter, the stuff was unusually hard. To warm up, we +prepared the sleds. Under our lashes the dogs jumped +into harness with a bound. The pemmican, which we +really found too hard to eat, had to be first broken into +pieces with an axe. We ground it slowly with our +molars as we trudged along. Our teeth chattered while +the stomach was thus being fired with durable fuel.</p> + +<p>As we advanced the ice improved to some extent. +With a little search safe crossings were found over new +crevices. A strong westerly wind blew piercingly cold.</p> + +<p>Good progress was made, but we did not forget at +any time that we were invading the forbidden domains +of a new polar environment.</p> + +<p>Henceforth, one day was to be much like another.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> +Beyond the eighty-third parallel life is devoid of any +pleasure. The intense objective impressions of cold +and hunger assailing the body rob even the mind of inspiration +and exhilaration. Even the best day of sun +and gentle wind offers no balm.</p> + +<p>One awakes realizing the wind has abated and sees +the cheerless sun veering about the side of the ice shelter. +One kicks the victim upon whom, that morning, duty has +fixed the misfortune to be up first—for we tried to be +equals in sharing the burdens of life. And upon him +to whose lot falls this hardship there is a loss of two +hours' repose. He chops ice, fills the kettles, lights +the fire, and probably freezes his fingers in doing so. +Then he wiggles back into his bag, warms his icy hands +on the bare skin of his own stomach; or, if he is in a two-man +bag, and the other fellow is awake, Arctic courtesy +permits the icy hands on the stomach of his bedfellow.</p> + +<p>In due time the blood runs to the hand and he sets +about tidying up the camp. First, the hood of his own +bag. It is loaded with icicles and frost, the result of +the freezing of his breath while asleep. He brushes off +the ice and snow. The ice has settled in the kettles in +the meantime. More ice must be chopped and put into +the kettle. The chances are that he now breaks a +commandment and steals what to us is a great luxury—a +long drink of water to ease his parched throat. Because +of the need of fuel economy, limit is placed on +drinks.</p> + +<p>Then the fire needs attention; the flame is imperfect +and the gas hole needs cleaning. He thoughtlessly +grips the little bit of metal to the end of which the priming +needle is attached. That metal is so cold that it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> +burns, and he leaves a piece of his skin on it. Then +the breakfast ration of pemmican must be divided. It +is not frozen, for it contains no water. But it is hard. +The stuff looks like granite. Heat would melt it—but +there is no fuel to spare. The two slumberers +are given a thump, and their eyes open to the stone-like +pemmican. Between yawns the teeth are set to grind +the pemmican. The water boils, the tea is tossed in it +and the kettle is removed.</p> + +<p>We rise on elbows, still in the bags, to enjoy the +one heavenly treat of our lives, the cup of tea which +warms the hand and the stomach at once.</p> + +<p>Then we dress. It is remarkable how cold compels +speed in dressing.</p> + +<p>The door of the snowhouse is now kicked out—all +tumble about to warm up and stop chattering teeth. +Breaking camp is a matter of but a minute, for things +fall almost automatically into convenient packs. The +sledges are loaded and lashed in a few minutes. Then +the teams are gathered to the pulling lines, and off we +go with a run. The pace for dog and man is two and a +half miles an hour, over good ice or bad ice, hard snow +or soft snow, or tumbling over neckbreaking irregularities. +There is no stop for lunch, no riding, or rest, or +anything else. It is drive—drive.</p> + +<p>At times it was impossible to perspire, and the toxin +of fatigue, generating unearthly weariness, filled the +brain with fag. When perspiration oozed from our +pores, as we forced forward, step by step, it froze in the +garments and the warmer portions of our bodies were +ringed with snow. Daily, unremittingly, this was our +agony.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p> + +<p>In starting before the end of the winter night, and +camping on the open ice fields in the long northward +march, we had first accustomed our eyes to frigid darkness +and then to a perpetual glitter. This proved to be +the coldest season of the year, and we ought to have +been hardened to all kinds of Arctic torment. But man +gains that advantage only when his pulse ceases to beat.</p> + +<p>Continuing the steady stride of forward marches, +far from land, far from life, there was nothing to arouse +a warming spirit. Along the land there had been calms +and gales and an inspiring contrast, even in the dark +days and nights, but here the frigid world was felt at its +worst. The wind, which came persistently from the +west—now strong, now feeble, but always sharp—inflicted +a pain to which we never became accustomed.</p> + +<p>The worst torture inflicted by the wind and humid +air of an Arctic pack came from a mask of ice about the +face. It was absurdly picturesque but painful. Every +bit of exhaled moisture condensed and froze either to +the facial hair or to the line of fox tails about the hood. +It made comical caricatures of us.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 544px;"> +<img src="images/illo_271.jpg" width="544" height="800" alt="BRADLEY LAND DISCOVERED + +SUBMERGED ISLAND OF POLAR SEA + +GOING BEYOND THE BOUNDS OF LIFE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">BRADLEY LAND DISCOVERED<br /> + +SUBMERGED ISLAND OF POLAR SEA<br /> + +GOING BEYOND THE BOUNDS OF LIFE</span> +</div> + +<p>Frequent turns in our course exposed both sides of +the face to the wind and covered with icicles every hair +offering a convenient nucleus. These lines of crystal +made an amazing dash of light and color as we looked at +each other. But they did not afford much amusement +to the individual exhibiting them. Such hairs as had +not been pulled from the lips and chin were first +weighted, and then the wind carried the breath to the +long hair with which we protected our heads, and left a +mass of dangling frost. Accumulated moisture from +the eyes coated the eyelashes and brows. The humidity +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> +escaping about the forehead left a crescent of snow +above, while that escaping under the chin, combined with +falling breath, formed there a semi-circle of ice. The +most uncomfortable icicles, however, were those that +formed on the coarse hair within the nostrils. To keep +the face free, the Eskimos pull the facial hair out by the +roots, the result of which is a rarity of mustaches and +beards. Thus, with low temperature and persistent +winds, life was one of constant torture on the march; +but cooped in snowhouses, eating dried beef and tallow, +and drinking hot tea, some animal comforts were occasionally +to be gained in the icy camps.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 531px;"> +<img src="images/illo_272.jpg" width="531" height="800" alt="SWIFT PROGRESS OVER SMOOTH ICE + +BUILDING AN IGLOO + +A LIFELESS WORLD OF COLD AND ICE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">SWIFT PROGRESS OVER SMOOTH ICE<br /> + +BUILDING AN IGLOO<br /> + +A LIFELESS WORLD OF COLD AND ICE</span> +</div> + +<p>We forced the dogs onward during two days of +cheery bluster, with encouraging results. At times we +ran before the teams, calling and urging the brutes to +leaping progress. On the evening of March 26, with +a pedometer and other methods of dead reckoning for +position, we found ourselves at latitude 84° 24ʹ, longitude +96° 53ʹ.</p> + +<p>The western horizon remained persistently dark. +A storm was gathering, and slowly moving eastward. +Late in the evening we prepared for the anticipated +blast. We built an igloo stronger than usual, hoping +that the horizon would be cleared with a brisk wind by +the morrow and afford us a day of rest. The long, steady +marches, without time for recuperation, necessarily +dampened our enthusiasm for a brief period of physical +depression, which, however, was of short duration.</p> + +<p>Daily we had learned to appreciate more and more +the joy of the sleeping bag. It was the only animal +comfort which afforded a relief to our life of frigid +hardship, and often with the thought of it we tried to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> +force upon the weary body in the long marches a pleasing +anticipation.</p> + +<p>In the evening, after blocks of snow walled a dome +in which we could breathe quiet air, the blue-flame lamp +sang notes of gastronomic delights. We first indulged in +a heaven-given drink of ice-water to quench the intense +thirst which comes after hours of exertion and perspiration. +Then the process of undressing began, one at +a time, for there was not room enough in the igloo for +all to undress at once.</p> + +<p>The fur-stuffed boots were pulled off and the bearskin +pants were stripped. Then half of the body was +quickly pushed into the bag. A brick of pemmican was +next taken out and the teeth were set to grind on this +bone-like substance. Our appetites were always keen, +but a half pound of cold withered beef and tallow +changes a hungry man's thoughts effectually.</p> + +<p>The tea, an hour in making, was always welcome, +and we rose on elbows to take it. Under the influence +of the warm drink, the fur coat with its mask of ice was +removed. Next the shirt, with its ring of ice about the +waist, would come off, giving the last sense of shivering. +Pushing the body farther into the bag, the hood was +pulled over the face, and we were lost to the world +of ice.</p> + +<p>The warm sense of mental and physical pleasure +which follows is an interesting study. The movement of +others, the sting of the air, the noise of torturing winds, +the blinding rays of a heatless sun, the pains of driving +snows and all the bitter elements are absent. One's +mind, freed of anxiety and suffering, wanders to home +and better times under these peculiar circumstances;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> +there comes a pleasurable sensation in the touch of one's +own warm skin, while the companionship of the arms +and legs, freed from their cumbersome furs, makes a +new discovery in the art of getting next to one's self.</p> + +<p>Early on March 27, a half gale was blowing, but at +noon the wind ceased. The bright sun and rising temperature +were too tempting to let us remain quiescent. +Although the west was still dark with threatening +clouds we hitched the dogs to the sleds. We braced +ourselves. "Huk! Huk!" we called, and bounded away +among the wind-swept hummocks. The crevices of the +ice wound like writhing snakes as we raced on. We +had not gone many miles before the first rush of the +storm struck us. Throwing ourselves over the sleds, we +waited the passing of the icy blast. No suitable snow +with which to begin the erection of a shelter was near. +A few miles northward, as we saw, was a promising area +for a camp. This we hoped to reach after a few +moments' rest. The squall soon spent its force. In +the wind which followed good progress was made without +suffering severely. The temperature was 41° below +zero, Fahrenheit, and the barometer 29.05.</p> + +<p>Once in moving order, the drivers required very +little encouragement to prolong the effort to a fair day's +march despite the weather. As the sun settled in the +western gloom the wind increased in fury and forced +us to camp. Before the igloo was finished a steady, +rasping wind brushed the hummocks and piled the snow +in large dunes about us, like the sand of home shores.</p> + +<p>The snowhouse was not cemented as usual with +water, as was our custom when weather permitted. The +tone of the wind did not seem to indicate danger, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> +furthermore, there was no open sea water near. Because +of the need of fuel economy we did not deem it +prudent to use oil for fire to melt snow, excepting for +water to quench thirst.</p> + +<p>Not particularly anxious about the outcome of the +storm, and with senses blunted by overwork and benumbed +with cold, we sought the comfort of the bags. +Awakened in the course of a few hours by drifts of +snow about our feet, I noted that the wind had burrowed +holes at weak spots through the snow wall. We were +bound, however, not to be cheated of a few hours' sleep, +and with one eye open we turned over. I was awakened +by falling snow blocks soon after.</p> + +<p>Forcing my head out of my ice-encased fur hood, +I saw the sky, cloud-swept and grey. The dome of the +igloo had been swept away. We were being quickly +buried under a dangerous weight of snow. In some way +I had tossed about sufficiently during sleep to keep on +top of the accumulating drift, but my companions were +nowhere to be seen. About me for miles the white +spaces were vacant. With dread in my heart I uttered a +loud call, but there came no response.</p> + +<p>A short frenzied search revealed a blowhole in the +snow. In response to another call, as from some subterranean +place came muffled Eskimo shouts. Tearing +and burrowing at the fallen snow blocks I made violent +efforts to free them, buried as they were in their bags. +But to my dismay the soft snow settled on them tighter +with each tussle.</p> + +<p>I was surprised, a few moments later, as I was +working to keep their breathing place open, to feel them +burrowing through the snow. They had entered their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> +bags without undressing. Half clothed in shirt and +pants, but with bare feet, they writhed and wriggled +through the bags and up through the breathing hole.</p> + +<p>After a little digging their boots were uncovered, +and then, with protected feet, the bag was freed and +placed at the side of the igloo.</p> + +<p>Into it the boys crept, fully dressed, with the exception +of coats. I rolled out beside them in my bag. We +lay in the open sweep of furious wind, impotent to +move, for twenty-nine hours. Only then the frigid blast +eased enough to enable us to creep out into the open. +The air came in hissing spouts, like jets of steam from +an engine.</p> + +<p>Soon after noon of March 29 the air brightened. +It became possible to breathe without being choked +with floating crystals, and as the ice about our facial +furs was broken, a little blue patch was detected in the +west. We now freed the dogs of their snow entanglement +and fed them. A shelter was made in which to +melt snow and brew tea. We ate a double ration.</p> + +<p>Hitching the dogs we raced off. The monotonous +fields of snow swept under us. Soon the sun burst +through separating clouds and upraised icy spires before +us. The wind died away. A crystal glory transfigured +the storm-swept fields. We seemed traveling +over fields of diamonds, scintillant as white fire, which +shimmered dazzlingly about us. It is curious to observe +an intense fiery glitter and glow, as in the North, which +gives absolutely no impression of warmth. Fire here +seems cold. With full stomachs, fair weather and a much +needed rest, we moved with renewed inspiration. The +dogs ran with tails erect, ears pricked. I and my com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>panions +ran behind with the joy of contestants in a race. +Indeed, we felt refreshed as one does after a cold bath.</p> + +<p>Considerable time and distance, however, were lost +in seeking a workable line of travel about obstructions +and making detours. Camping at midnight, we had +made only nine miles by a day's effort. The conditions +under which this second hundred miles were forced, +proved to be in every respect the most exciting of the +run of five hundred miles over the Polar sea. The mere +human satisfaction of overcoming difficulties was a daily +incentive to surmount obstacles and meet baffling +problems. The weather was unsettled. Sudden storms +broke with spasmodic force, the barometer was unsteady +and the temperature ranged from 20° below zero to 60° +below zero. The ice showed signs of recent agitation.</p> + +<p>New leads and recent sheets of new ice combined +with deep snow made travel difficult. Persistently onward, +pausing at times, we would urge the dogs to the +limit. One dog after another went into the stomachs +of the hungry survivors. Camps were now swept by +storms. The ice opened out under our bodies, shelter +was often a mere hole in the snow bank. Each of us +carried painful wounds, frost bites; and the ever chronic +emptiness of half filled stomachs brought a gastric call +for food, impossible to supply. Hard work and strong +winds sent unquenched thirst tortures to burning throats, +and the gloom of ever clouded skies sent despair to its +lowest reaches.</p> + +<p>But there was no monotony; our tortures came +from different angles, and from so many sources, that +we were ever aroused to a fighting spirit. With a push +at the sled or a pull at the line we helped the wind-teased<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> +dogs to face the nose cutting drift that swept the pack +mile after mile. Day after day we plunged farther and +farther along into the icy despair and stormy bluster.</p> + +<p>Throughout the entire advance northward I found +there was some advantage in my Eskimo companions +having some slight comprehension of the meaning of +my aim. Doubtless through information and ideas that +had sifted from explorers to Eskimos for many generations +past, the aborigines had come to understand that +there is a point at the top of the globe, which is somehow +the very top of the world, and that at this summit +there is something which white men have long been +anxious to find—a something which the Eskimo describe +as the "big nail." The feeling that they were setting +out with me in the hope of being the first to find this +"big nail"—for, of course, I had told them of the possibility—helped +to keep up the interest and courage of +my two companions during long days of hardship.</p> + +<p>Naturally enough, I could not expect their interest +in the Pole itself to be great. Their promised reward +for accompanying me, a gun and knife for each, maintained +a lively interest in them. After a ceaseless warfare +lasting seven days, on March 30 the eastern sky +broke in lines of cheering blue. Whipped by low winds +the clouds broke and scurried.</p> + +<p>Soon the western heavens, ever a blank mystery, +cleared. Under it, to my surprise, lay a new land. I +think I felt a thrill such as Columbus must have felt +when the first green vision of America loomed before +his eye.</p> + +<p>My promise to the good, trusty boys of nearness to +land was unwittingly on my part made good, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> +delight of eyes opened to the earth's northernmost rocks +dispelled all the physical torture of the long run of +storms. As well as I could see, the land seemed an interrupted +coast extending parallel to the line of march +for about fifty miles, far to the west. It was snow +covered, ice-sheeted and desolate. But it was real land +with all the sense of security solid earth can offer. To +us that meant much, for we had been adrift in a moving +sea of ice, at the mercy of tormenting winds. Now came, +of course, the immediate impelling desire to set foot +upon it, but to do so I knew would have side-tracked +us from our direct journey to the Polar goal. In any +case, delay was jeopardous, and, moreover, our food +supply did not permit our taking time to inspect the +new land.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>This new land was never clearly seen. A low mist, +seemingly from open water, hid the shore line. We saw +the upper slopes only occasionally from our point of +observation. There were two distinct land masses. The +most southern cape of the southern mass bore west by +south, but still further to the south there were vague +indications of land. The most northern cape of the +same mass bore west by north. Above it there was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> +distinct break for 15 or 20 miles, and beyond the northern +mass extended above the eighty-fifth parallel to the +northwest. The entire coast was at this time placed on +our charts as having a shore line along the one hundred +and second meridian, approximately parallel to our line +of travel. At the time the indications suggested two +distinct islands. Nevertheless, we saw so little of +the land that we could not determine whether it consisted +of islands or of a larger mainland. The lower +coast resembled Heiberg Island, with mountains and +high valleys. The upper coast I estimated as being +about one thousand feet high, flat, and covered with a +thin sheet ice. Over the land I write "Bradley Land" +in honor of John R. Bradley, whose generous help had +made possible the important first stage of the expedition. +The discovery of this land gave an electric impetus +of driving vigor at just the right moment to +counterbalance the effect of the preceding week of +storm and trouble.</p> + +<p>Although I gazed longingly and curiously at the +land, to me the Pole was the pivot of ambition. My +boys had not the same northward craze, but I told them +to reach the land on our return might be possible. We<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> +never saw it again. This new land made a convenient +mile-post, for from this time on the days were counted to +and from it. A good noon sight fixed the point of observation +to 84° 50ʹ, longitude 95° 36ʺ. We had forced +beyond the second hundred miles from Svartevoeg. Before +us remained about three hundred more miles, to +my alluring, mysterious goal.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_283.jpg" width="640" height="328" alt="ARCTIC FOX" title="" /> +<span class="caption">ARCTIC FOX</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p> +<h2>BEYOND THE RANGE OF LIFE</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">WITH A NEW SPRING TO WEARY LEGS BRADLEY LAND IS +LEFT BEHIND—FEELING THE ACHING VASTNESS OF +THE WORLD BEFORE MAN WAS MADE—CURIOUS +GRIMACES OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN—SUFFERINGS INCREASE—BY +PERSISTENT AND LABORIOUS PROGRESS +ANOTHER HUNDRED MILES IS COVERED</p> + +<h3>XVII<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">Two Hundred Miles From The Pole</span></h3> + + +<p>A curtain of mist was drawn over the new land in +the afternoon of March 31, and, although we gazed +westward longingly, we saw no more of it. Day after +day we now pushed onward in desperate northward +efforts. Strong winds and fractured, irregular ice, increased +our difficulties. Although progress was slow +for several days we managed to gain a fair march between +storms during each twenty-four hours. During +occasional spells of icy stillness mirages spread screens +of fantasy out for our entertainment. Curious cliffs, +odd-shaped mountains and inverted ice walls were displayed +in attractive colors.</p> + +<p>Discoveries of new land seemed often made. But +with a clearing horizon the deception was detected.</p> + +<p>The boys believed most of these signs to be indications +of real land—a belief I persistently encouraged,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> +because it relieved them of the panic of the terror of the +unknown.</p> + +<p>On April 3, the barometer remained steady and +the thermometer sank. The weather became settled and +fairly clear, the horizon was freed of its smoky vapors, +the pack assumed a more permanent aspect of glittering +color. At noon there was now a dazzling light, while +at night the sun kissed the frozen seas behind screens +of mouse-colored cloud and haze. At the same moment +the upper skies flushed with the glow of color of the +coming double-days of joy.</p> + +<p>As we advanced north of Bradley Land the pack +disturbance of land-divided and land-jammed ice disappeared. +The fields became larger and less troublesome, +the weather improved, the temperature ranged +from 20° to 50° below zero, the barometer rose and +remained steady, the day sky cleared with increasing +color, but a low haze blotted out much of the night glory +which attended the dip of the nocturnal sun. With +dogs barking and rushing before speeding sleds, we +made swift progress. But the steady drag and monotony +of the never changing work and scene reduced +interest in life.</p> + +<p>The blankness of the mental desert which moved +about us as we ran along was appalling. Nothing +changed materially. The horizon moved. Our footing +was seemingly a solid stable ice crust, which was, however, +constantly shifting eastward. All the world on +which we traveled was in motion. We moved, but we +took our landscape with us.</p> + +<p>At the end of the day's march we were often too +tired to build snow houses, and in sheer exhaustion we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> +bivouacked in the lee of hummocks. Here the overworked +body called for sleep, but my mind refused to +close the eyes. My boys had the advantage of sleep. +I envied them. Anyone who has suffered from insomnia +may be able in a small degree to gauge my +condition when sleep became impossible. To reach the +end of my journey became the haunting, ever-present +goading thought of my wakeful existence.</p> + +<p>As I lay painfully trying to coax slumber, my mind +worked like the wheels of a machine. Dizzily the journey +behind repeated itself; I again crossed the Big +Lead, again floundered in an ice-cold open sea. Dangers +of all sorts took form to harass me. Instead of sleep, a +delirium of anxiety and longing possessed me.</p> + +<p>Beyond the eighty-fourth parallel we had passed +the bounds of visible life. Lying wakeful in that barren +world, with my companions asleep, I felt what few men +of cities, perhaps, ever feel—the tragic isolation of the +human soul—a thing which, dwelt upon, must mean +madness. I think I realized the aching vastness of the +world after creation, before man was made.</p> + +<p>For many days we had not seen a suggestion of +animated nature. There were no longer animal trails +to indicate life; no breath spouts of seal escaped from +the frosted bosom of the sea. Not even the microscopic +life of the deep was longer detected under us. We were +alone—alone in a lifeless world. We had come to this +blank space of the earth by slow but progressive stages. +Sailing from the bleak land of the fisher folk along +the out-posts of civilization, the complex luxury of metropolitan +life was lost. Beyond, in the half savage wilderness +of Danish Greenland, we partook of a new life<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> +of primitive simplicity. Still farther along, in the +Ultima Thule of the aborigines, we reverted to a prehistoric +plane of living. Advancing beyond the haunts +of men, we reached the noonday deadliness of a world +without life.</p> + +<p>As we pushed beyond into the sterile wastes, with +eager eyes we constantly searched the dusky plains of +frost, but there was no speck of life to grace the purple +run of death.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p>During these desolate marches, my legs working +mechanically, my mind with anguish sought some object +upon which to fasten itself. My eyes scrutinized the +horizon. I saw, every day, every sleeping hour, hills +of ice, vast plains of ice, now a deadly white, now a dull +gray, now a misty purple, sometimes shot with gold or +gleaming with lakes of ultramarine, moving towards and +by me, an ever-changing yet ever-monotonous panorama +which wearied me as does the shifting of unchanging +scenery seen from a train window. As I paced the +weary marches, I fortunately became unconscious of +the painful movement of my legs. Although I walked +I had a sensation of being lifted involuntarily onward.</p> + +<p>The sense of covering distance gave me a dull, +pleasurable satisfaction. Only some catastrophe, some +sudden and overwhelming obstacle would have aroused +me to an intense mental emotion, to a passionate despair, +to the anguish of possible defeat.</p> + +<p>I was now becoming the unconscious instrument of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> +my ambition; almost without volition my body was being +carried forward by a subconscious force which had +fastened itself upon a distant goal. Sometimes the +wagging of a dog's tail held my attention for long +minutes; it afforded a curious play for my morbidly +obsessed imagination. In an hour I would forget what +I had been thinking. To-day I cannot remember the +vague, fanciful illusions about curiously insignificant +things which occupied my faculties in this dead world. +The sun, however, did relieve the monotony, and created +in the death-chilled world skies filled with elysian +flowers and mirages of beauty undreamed of by Aladdin.</p> + +<p>My senses at the time, as I have said, were vaguely +benumbed. While we traveled I heard the sound of +the moving sledges. Their sharp steel runners cut the +ice and divided the snow like a cleaving knife. I became +used to the first shudder of the rasping sound. In +the dead lulls between wind storms I would listen with +curious attention to the soft patter of our dogs' feet. +At times I could hear their tiny toe nails grasping at +forward ice ridges in order to draw themselves forward, +and, strangely—so were all my thoughts interwoven +with my ambition—this clenching, crunching, gritty +sound gave me a delighted sense of progress, a sense of +ever covering distance and nearing, ever nearing the +Pole.</p> + +<p>In this mid-Polar basin the ice does not readily +separate. It is probably in motion at all times of the +year. In this readjustment of fields following motion +and expansion, open spaces of water appear. These, +during most months, are quickly sheeted with new ice.</p> + +<p>In these troubled areas I had frequent opportuni<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>ties +to measure ice-thickness. From my observation I +had come to the conclusion that ice does not freeze to +a depth of more than twelve or fifteen feet during a +single year. Occasionally we crossed fields fifty feet +thick. These invariably showed signs of many years of +surface upbuilding.</p> + +<p>It is very difficult to estimate the amount of submerged +freezing after the first year's ice, but the very +uniform thickness of Antarctic sea ice suggests that a +limit is reached the second year, when the ice, with its +cover of snow, is so thick that very little is added afterward +from below.</p> + +<p>Increase in size after that is probably the result +mostly of addition to the superstructure. Frequent +falls of snow, combined with alternate melting and +freezing in summer, and a process similar to the upbuilding +of glacial ice, are mainly responsible for the +growth in thickness of the ice on the Polar sea.</p> + +<p>The very heavy, undulating fields, which give +character to the mid-Polar ice and escape along the east +and west coasts of Greenland, are, therefore, mostly +augmented from the surface.</p> + +<p>Continuing north, at no time was the horizon perfectly +clear. But the weather was good enough to permit +frequent nautical observations. Our course was +lined on uninteresting blank sheets. There were elusive +signs of land frequent enough to maintain an exploring +enthusiasm, which helped me also in satisfying my +companions. For thus they were encouraged to believe +in a nearness to terrestrial solidity. At every breathing +spell, when we got together for a little chat, Ah-we-lah's +hand, with pointed finger, was directed to some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> +spot on the horizon or some low-lying cloud, with the +shout of "<i>Noona?</i>" (land), to which I always replied in +the affirmative; but, for me, the field-glasses and later +positions dispelled the illusion.</p> + +<p>Man, under pressure of circumstances, will adapt +himself to most conditions of life. To me the other-world +environment of the Polar-pack, far from continental +fastness, was beginning to seem quite natural.</p> + +<p>We forced marches day after day. We traveled +until dogs languished or legs failed. Ice hills rose and +fell before us. Mirages grimaced at our dashing teams +with wondering faces. Daily the incidents and our position +were recorded, but our adventures were promptly +forgotten in the mental bleach of the next day's effort.</p> + +<p>Night was now as bright as day. By habit, we +emerged from our igloos later and later. On the 5th +and 6th we waited until noon before starting, to get +observations; but, as was so often the case, when the sun +was watched, it slipped under clouds. This late start +brought our stopping time close to midnight, and infused +an interest in the midnight sun; but the persistent +haze which clouded the horizon at night when the sun +was low denied us a glimpse of the midnight luminary.</p> + +<p>The night of April 7 was made notable by the +swing of the sun at midnight, above the usual obscuring +mist, behind which it had, during previous days, sunk +with its night dip of splendor. For a number of nights +it made grim faces at us in its setting. A tantalizing +mist, drawn as a curtain over the northern sea at midnight, +had afforded curious advantages for celestial +staging. We were unable to determine sharply the +advent of the midnight sun, but the colored cloud and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> +haze into which it nightly sank produced a spectacular +play which interested us immensely.</p> + +<p>Sometimes the great luminary was drawn out into +an egg-shaped elongation with horizontal lines of color +drawn through it. I pictured it as some splendid fire-colored +lantern flung from the window of Heaven. +Again, it was pressed into a basin flaming with magical +fires, burning behind a mystic curtain of opalescent +frosts. Blue at other times, it appeared like a huge +vase of luminous crystal, such as might be evoked by the +weird genii of the Orient, from which it required very +little imagination to see purple, violet, crimson and +multi-colored flowers springing beauteously into the sky.</p> + +<p>These changes took place quickly, as by magic. +Usually the last display was of distorted faces, some +animal, some semi-human—huge, grotesque, and curiously +twitching countenances of clouds and fire. At +times they appallingly resembled the hideous teeth-gnashing +deities of China, that, with gnarled arms upraised, +holding daggers of flame and surrounded by +smoke, were rising toward us from beyond the horizon.</p> + +<p>Sometimes in our northward progress these faces +laughed, again they scowled ominously. What the +actual configurations were I do not know; I suppose +two men see nothing exactly alike in this topsy-turvy +world.</p> + +<p>Rushing northward with forced haste, unreal +beauties took form as if to lure us to pause. Clouds of +steam rising from frozen seas like geysers assumed the +aspects of huge fountains of iridescent fire. As the +sun rose, lines of light like quicksilver quivered and +writhed about the horizon, and in swirling, swimming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> +circles closed and narrowed about us on the increasingly +color-burned but death-chilled areas of ice over which +we worked. Setting amid a dance of purple radiance, +the sun, however, instead of inspiring us, filled us with +a sick feeling of giddiness. What beauty there was in +these spectacles was often lost upon our benumbed +senses.</p> + +<p>Nowhere in the world, perhaps, are seen such +spectacles of celestial glory. The play of light on clouds +and ice produces the illusion of some supernatural realm.</p> + +<p>We had now followed the sun's northward advance—from +its first peep, at midday, above the southern +ice of the Polar gateway, to its sweep over the northern +ice at midnight. From the end of the Polar night, +late in February, to the first of the double days and the +midnight suns, we had forced a trail through darkness +and blood-hardening temperature, and over leg-breaking +irregularities of an unknown world of ice, to a spot +almost exactly two hundred miles from the Pole! To +this point our destiny had been auspiciously protected. +Ultimate success seemed within grasp. But we were +not blind to the long line of desperate effort still required +to push over the last distance.</p> + +<p>Now that we had the sun unmistakably at midnight, +its new glory before us was an incentive to onward +efforts. Previous to this the sun had been undoubtedly +above the horizon, but, as is well known, when the sun is +low and the atmospheric humidity is high, as it always +is over the pack, a dense cloud of frost crystals rests on +the ice and obscures the horizon. During the previous +days the sun sank into this frosty haze and was lost for +several hours.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p> + +<p>Observations on April 8<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> placed camp at latitude +86° 36ʹ, longitude 94° 2ʹ. Although we had made long +marches and really great speed, we had advanced only +ninety-six miles in the nine days. Much of our hard +work had been lost in circuitous twists around troublesome +pressure lines and high, irregular fields of very +old ice. The drift ice was throwing us to the east with +sufficient force to give us some anxiety, but with eyes +closed to danger and hardships, double days of fatigue +and double days of glitter quickly followed one another.</p> + +<p>Everything was now in our favor, but here we felt +most of the accumulating effect of long torture, in a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>world where every element of Nature is hostile. Human +endurance has distinct limits. Bodily abuse will long +be counterbalanced by man's superb recuperative power, +but sooner or later there comes a time when out-worn +cells call a halt.</p> + +<p>We had lived for weeks on a steady diet of withered +beef and tallow. There was no change, we had no hot +meat, and never more to eat than was absolutely necessary +to keep life within the body. We became indifferent +to the aching vacant pain of the stomach. +Every organ had been whipped to serve energy to the +all important movement of our legs. The depletion of +energy, the lassitude of overstrained limbs, manifested +themselves. The Eskimos were lax in the swing of the +whip and indifferent in urging on the dogs. The dogs +displayed the same spirit by lowered tails, limp ears, +and drooping noses, as their shoulders dragged the sleds +farther, ever farther from the land of life.</p> + +<p>A light life-sapping wind came from the west. We +battled against it. We swung our arms to fight it and +maintain circulation, as a swimmer in water. Veering +a little at times, it always struck the face at a piercing +angle. It froze the tip of my nose so often that that +feature felt like a foreign bump on my face. Our cheeks +had in like manner been so often bleached in spots that +the skin was covered with ugly scars. Our eyes were +often sealed by frozen eyelashes. The tear sack made +icicles. Every particle of breath froze as it left the +nostrils, and coated the face in a mask of ice.</p> + +<p>The sun at times flamed the clouds, while the snow +glowed in burning tones. In the presence of all this we +suffered the chill of death. All Nature exulted in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> +wave of hysteria. Delusions took form about us—in +mirages, in the clouds. We moved in a world of +delusions. The heat of the sun was a sham, its light a +torment. A very curious world this, I thought dumbly, +as we pushed our sleds and lashed our lagging dogs. +Our footing was solid; there was no motion. Our +horizon was lined with all the topographic features of a +solid land scene, with mountains, valleys and plains, +rivers of open water; but under it all there was the +heaving of a restless sea. Although nothing visibly +moved, it was all in motion. Seemingly a solid crust of +earth, it imperceptibly drifts in response to every wind. +We moved with it, but ever took our landscape with us.</p> + +<p>Of the danger of this movement, of the possibility +of its hopelessly carrying us away from our goal, and +the possibility of ultimate starvation, I never lost consciousness. +Although the distance may seem slight, +now that we had gone so far, the last two hundred miles +seemed hopelessly impossible. With aching, stiffened +legs we started our continuing marches without enthusiasm, +with little ambition. But marches we made—distance +leaped at times under our swift running +feet.</p> + +<p>It sometimes now seems that unknown and subtle +forces of which we are not cognizant supported me. +I could almost believe that there were unseen beings +there, whose voices urged me in the wailing wind; who, +in my success, themselves sought soul peace, and who, +that I might obtain it, in some strange, mysterious way +succored and buoyed me.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="OVER_POLAR_SEAS_OF_MYSTERY" id="OVER_POLAR_SEAS_OF_MYSTERY"></a>OVER POLAR SEAS OF MYSTERY</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">THE MADDENING TORTURES OF A WORLD WHERE ICE +WATER SEEMS HOT, AND COLD KNIVES BURN ONE'S +HANDS—ANGUISHED PROGRESS ON THE LAST STRETCH +OF TWO HUNDRED MILES OVER ANCHORED LAND ICE—DAYS +OF SUFFERING AND GLOOM—THE TIME OF +DESPAIR—"IT IS WELL TO DIE," SAYS AH-WE-LAH; +"BEYOND IS IMPOSSIBLE."</p> + +<h3>XVIII<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">One Hundred Miles From the Pole</span></h3> + + +<p>We pushed onward. We cracked our whips to urge +the tiring dogs. We forced to quick steps weary leg +after weary leg. Mile after mile of ice rolled under our +feet. The maddening influence of the shifting desert of +frost became almost unendurable in the daily routine. +Under the lash of duty interest was forced, while the +merciless drive of extreme cold urged physical action. +Our despair was mental and physical—the result of +chronic overwork.</p> + +<p>Externally there was reason for rejoicing. The +sky had cleared, the weather improved, a liquid charm +of color poured over the strange other-world into which +we advanced. Progress was good, but the soul refused +to open its eyes to beauty or color. All was a lifeless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> +waste. The mind, heretofore busy in directing arm and +foot, to force a way through miniature mountains of +uplifted floes, was now, because of better ice, relieved +of that strain, but it refused to seek diversion.</p> + +<p>The normal run of hardship, although eased, now +piled up the accumulated poison of overwork, and when +I now think of the terrible strain I fail to see how a +workable balance was maintained.</p> + +<p>As we passed the eighty-sixth parallel, the ice increased +in breadth and thickness. Great hummocks and +pressure lines became less frequent. A steady progress +was gained with the most economical human drain +possible. The temperature ranged between 36° and 40° +below zero, Fahrenheit, with higher and lower midday +and midnight extremes. Only spirit thermometers were +useful, for the mercury was at this degree of frost either +frozen or sluggish.</p> + +<p>Although the perpetual sun gave light and color to +the cheerless waste we were not impressed with any appreciable +sense of warmth. Indeed, the sunbeams by +their contrast seemed to cause the frost of the air to +pierce with a more painful sting. In marching over +the golden glitter, snow scalded our faces, while our +noses were bleached with frost. The sun rose into zones +of fire and set in burning fields of ice, but, in pain, we +breathed the chill of death.</p> + +<p>In camp a grip of the knife left painful burns from +cold metal. To the frozen fingers ice cold water was +hot. With wine-spirits the fire was lighted, while oil +delighted the stomach. In our dreams Heaven was hot, +the other place was cold. All Nature was false; we +seemed to be nearing the chilled flame of a new Hades.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p> + +<p>We now changed our working hours from day to +night, beginning usually at ten o'clock and ending at +seven. The big marches and prolonged hours of travel +with which fortune favored us earlier were no longer +possible. Weather conditions were more important +in determining a day's run than the hands of the +chronometers.</p> + +<p>That I must steadily keep up my notes and the +records of observations was a serious addition to my +daily task. I never permitted myself to be careless in +regard to this, for I never let myself forget the importance +of such data in plotting an accurate course.</p> + +<p>I kept my records in small notebooks, writing very +fine with a hard pencil on both sides of the paper. At +the beginning of the journey I had usually set down +the day's record by candle light, but later, when the sun +was shining both day and night, I needed no light even +inside the walls of the igloo, for the sunlight shone +strongly enough through the walls of snow. Shining +brilliantly at times, I utilized the opportunity it +afforded, every few marches, to measure our shadows. +The daily change marked our advance Poleward.</p> + +<p>When storms threatened, our start was delayed. +In strong gales the march was shortened. But in one +way or another we usually found a few hours in each +turn of the dial during which a march could be forced +between winds. It mattered little whether we traveled +night or day—all hours and all days were alike to us—for +we had no accustomed time to rest, no Sundays, no +holidays, no landmarks, or mile-posts to pass.</p> + +<p>To advance and expend the energy accumulated +during one sleep at the cost of one pound of pemmican<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> +was our sole aim in life. Day after day our legs were +driven onward. Constantly new but similar panoramas +rolled by us.</p> + +<p>Our observations on April 11, gave latitude 87° +20ʹ, longitude 95° 19ʹ. The pack disturbance of the +new land was less and less noted as we progressed in the +northward movement. The fields became heavier, +larger and less crevassed. Fewer troublesome old floes +and less crushed new ice were encountered. With the +improved conditions, the fire of a racing spirit surged +up for a brief spell.</p> + +<p>We had now passed the highest reaches of all our +predecessors. The inspiration of the Farthest North +for a brief time thrilled me. The time was at hand, +however, to consider seriously the possible necessity of +an early return.</p> + +<p>Nearly half of the food allowance had been used. +In the long marches supplies had been more liberally +consumed than anticipated. Now our dog teams were +much reduced in numbers. Because of the cruel law of +the survival of the fittest, the less useful dogs had gone +into the stomachs of their stronger companions. With +the lessening of the number of dogs had come at the +same time a reduction of the weight of the sledge loads, +through the eating of the food. Now, owing to food +limitations and the advancing season, we could not prudently +continue the onward march a fortnight longer.</p> + +<p>We had dragged ourselves three hundred miles +over the Polar sea in twenty-four days. Including delays +and detours, this gave an average of nearly thirteen +miles daily on an airline in our course. There remained +an unknown line of one hundred and sixty miles to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> +Pole. The same average advance would take us to the +Pole in thirteen days. There were food and fuel enough +to risk this adventure. With good luck the prize seemed +within our grasp. But a prolonged storm, a deep snowfall, +or an active ice-pack would mean failure.</p> + +<p>In new cracks I measured the thickness of the ice. +I examined the water for life. The technical details for +the making and breaking of ice were studied, and some +attention was given to the altitude of uplifted and submerged +irregularities. Atmospheric, surface water and +ice temperatures were taken, the barometer was noted, +the cloud formations, weather conditions and ice drifts +were tabulated. There was a continuous routine of +work, but like the effort of the foot in the daily drive, +it became more or less automatic.</p> + +<p>Running along over seemingly endless fields of ice, +the physical appearances now came under more careful +scrutiny. I watched daily for possible signs of failing +in the strength of any of us, because a serious disability +would now mean a fatal termination. A disabled +man could neither continue nor return. Each +new examination gave me renewed confidence and was +another reason to push human endurance to the limit of +straining every fibre and cell.</p> + +<p>As a matter of long experience I find life in this +extreme North is healthful so long as there is sufficient +good food, so long as exertion is not overdone. A weakling +would easily be killed, but a strong man is +splendidly hardened and kept in perfect physical trim +by sledging and tramping in this germless air. But, +as I have said, sufficient food and not too much exertion +are requisites to full safety, and in our case we were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> +working to the limit, with rations running low. Still, +the men responded superbly.</p> + +<p>Our tremendous exertion in forcing daily rushing +marches, under occasional bursts of burning sunbeams, +provoked intense thirst. Following the habit of the +camel, we managed to take enough water before starting +to keep sufficient liquid in the stomach and veins for +the ensuing day's march. Yet it was painful to await +the melting of ice at camping time.</p> + +<p>In two sittings, evening and morning, each of us +took an average of three quarts of water daily. This +included tea and also the luxury of occasional soup. +Water was about us everywhere in heaps, but before +the thirst could be quenched, several ounces of precious +fuel, which had been sledged for hundreds of miles, +must be used. And yet, this water, so expensive and so +necessary to us, became the cause of our greatest discomfort. +It escaped through pores of the skin, saturated +the boots, formed a band of ice under the knee +and a belt of frost about the waist, while the face was +nearly always encased in a mask of icicles from the +moist breath. We learned to take this torture philosophically.</p> + +<p>With our dogs bounding and tearing onward, from +the eighty-seventh to the eighty-eighth parallel we +passed for two days over old ice without pressure lines +or hummocks. There was no discernible line of demarcation +to indicate separate fields, and it was quite +impossible to determine whether we were on land or sea +ice. The barometer indicated no perceptible elevation, +but the ice had the hard, wavering surface of glacial ice, +with only superficial crevasses. The water obtained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> +from this was not salty. All of the upper surface of +old hummock and high ice of the Polar sea resolves into +unsalted water. My nautical observations did not +seem to indicate a drift, but nevertheless my combined +tabulations do not warrant a positive assertion of either +land or sea; I am inclined, however, to put this down as +ice on low or submerged land.</p> + +<p>The ice presented an increasingly cheering prospect. +A plain of purple and blue ran in easy undulations +to the limits of vision without the usual barriers of +uplifted blocks. Over it a direct air-line course was +possible. Progress, however, was quite as difficult as +over the irregular pack. The snow was crusted with +large crystals. An increased friction reduced the sled +speed, while the snow surface, too hard for snowshoes, +was also too weak to give a secure footing to the unprotected +boot. The loneliness, the monotony, the hardship +of steady, unrelieved travel were keenly felt.</p> + +<p>Day after day we pushed along at a steady pace +over plains of frost and through a mental desert. As +the eye opened at the end of a period of shivering +slumber, the fire was lighted little by little, the stomach +was filled with liquids and solids, mostly cold—enough +to last for the day, for there could be no halt or waste +of fuel for midday feeding. We next got into harness, +and, under the lash of duty, paced off the day's pull; +we worked until standing became impossible.</p> + +<p>As a man in a dream I marched, set camp, ate and +tried to rest. I took observations now without interest; +under those conditions no man could take an interest +in mathematics. Eating became a hardship, for the +pemmican, tasteless and hard as metal, was cold. Our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> +feet were numb—it seemed fortunate they no longer +even ached.</p> + +<p>The arduous task of building a snowhouse meant +physical hardship. In this the eyes, no longer able to +wink, quickly closed. Soon the empty stomach complained. +Then the gastric wants were half served. +With teeth dropping to the spasm of cold and skins in +an electric wave of shivers to force animal heat, the boys +fell to unconscious slumbers, but my lids did not easily +close. The anxiety to succeed, the eagerness to draw +out our food supply and the task of infusing courage +into my savage helpers kept the mind active while the +underfed blood filled the legs with new power.</p> + +<p>There was no pleasurable mental recreation to relieve +us; there was nothing to arouse the soul from its +icy inclosure. To eat, to sleep, endlessly to press one +foot ahead of the other—that was all we could do. We +were like horses driven wearily in carts, but we had not +their advantages of an agreeable climate and a comfortable +stable at night. Daily our marches were much +the same. Finishing our frigid meal, we hitched the +dogs and lashed the sleds.</p> + +<p>In the daily routine of our onward struggle, there +was an inhuman strain which neither words nor pictures +could adequately describe. The maddening influence +of the sameness of Polar glitter, combined as it was with +bitter winds and extreme cold and overworked bodies, +burned our eyes and set our teeth to a chronic chattering. +To me there was always the inspiration of ultimate +success. But for my young savage companions, +it was a torment almost beyond endurance. They were, +however, brave and faithful to the bitter end, seldom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> +allowing hunger or weariness or selfish ambition or +fierce passions seriously to interfere with the effort of +the expedition. We suffered, but we covered distance.</p> + +<p>On the morning of April 13, the strain of agitating +torment reached the breaking point. For days there +had been a steady cutting wind from the west, which +drove despair to its lowest reaches. The west again +blackened, to renew its soul-despairing blast. The frost-burn +of sky color changed to a depressing gray, streaked +with black. The snow was screened with ugly vapors. +The path was absolutely cheerless. All this was a dire +premonition of storm and greater torture.</p> + +<p>No torment could be worse than that never-ceasing +rush of icy air. It gripped us and sapped the life from +us. Ah-we-lah bent over his sled and refused to move. +I walked over and stood by his side. His dogs turned +and looked inquiringly at us. E-tuk-i-shook came near +and stood motionless, like a man in a trance, staring +blankly at the southern skies. Large tears fell from +Ah-we-lah's eyes and froze in the blue of his own +shadow. Not a word was uttered. I knew that the +dreaded time of utter despair had come. The dogs +looked at us, patient and silent in their misery. Silently +in the descending gloom we all looked over the tremendous +dead-white waste to the southward. With a tear-streaked +and withered face, Ah-we-lah slowly said, with +a strangely shrilling wail, "<i>Unne-sinig-po—Oo-ah-tonie +i-o-doria—Ooh-ah-tonie i-o-doria!</i>" ("It is well to die—Beyond +is impossible—Beyond is impossible!")</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 536px;"> +<img src="images/illo_305.jpg" width="536" height="800" alt=""TOO WEARY TO BUILD IGLOOS WE USED THE SILK TENT" +"ACROSS SEAS OF CRYSTAL GLORY TO THE BOREAL CENTRE"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“TOO WEARY TO BUILD IGLOOS WE USED THE SILK TENT”<br /> +“ACROSS SEAS OF CRYSTAL GLORY TO THE BOREAL CENTRE”</span> +</div> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_306.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="MENDING NEAR THE POLE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MENDING NEAR THE POLE</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p> +<h2>TO THE POLE—THE LAST HUNDRED +MILES</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">OVER PLAINS OF GOLD AND SEAS OF PALPITATING COLOR +THE DOG TEAMS, WITH NOSES DOWN, TAILS ERECT, +DASH SPIRITEDLY LIKE CHARIOT HORSES—CHANTING +LOVE SONGS THE ESKIMOS FOLLOW WITH SWINGING +STEP—TIRED EYES OPEN TO NEW GLORY—STEP BY +STEP, WITH THUMPING HEARTS THE EARTH'S APEX +IS NEARED—AT LAST! THE GOAL IS REACHED! THE +STARS AND STRIPES ARE FLUNG TO THE FRIGID +BREEZES OF THE NORTH POLE!</p> + +<h3>XIX<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">Boreal Center is Pierced</span></h3> + + +<p>I shall never forget that dismal hour. I shall never +forget that desolate drab scene about us—those endless +stretches of gray and dead-white ice, that drab dull sky, +that thickening blackness in the west which entered into +and made gray and black our souls, that ominous, eerie +and dreadful wind, betokening a terrorizing Arctic +storm. I shall never forget the mournful group before +me, in itself an awful picture of despair, of man's ambition +failing just as victory is within his grasp. Ah-we-lah, +a thin, half-starved figure in worn furs, lay over +his sled, limp, dispirited, broken. In my ears I can now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> +hear his low sobbing words, I can see the tears on his +yellow fissured face. I can see E-tuk-i-shook standing +gaunt and grim, and as he gazed yearningly onward to +the south, sighing pitifully, shudderingly for the home, +the loved one, An-na-do-a, left behind, whom, I could +tell, he did not expect to see again.</p> + +<p>It was a critical moment. Up to this time, during +the second week of April, we had, by intense mental +force, goaded our wearied legs onward to the limit of +endurance. With a cutting wind in our faces, feeling +with each step the cold more severely to the marrow of +our bones, with our bodily energy and our bodily heat +decreasing, we had traveled persistently, suffering intolerable +pains with every breath. Despite increasing +despair, I had cheered my companions as best I could; +I had impressed upon them the constant nearing of my +goal. I had encouraged in them the belief of nearness +of land; each day I had gone on, fearing what had now +come, the utter breaking of their spirits.</p> + +<p>"<i>Unne-sinikpo-ashuka.</i>" (Yes, it is well to die.)</p> + +<p>"<i>Awonga-up-dow-epuksha!</i>" (Yesterday I, too, +felt that way), I said to myself. The sudden extinction +of consciousness, I thought, might be indeed a blessed +relief. But as long as life persisted, as long as human +endurance could be strained, I determined to continue. +Desperate as was my condition, and suffering hellish +tortures, the sight of the despair of my companions re-aroused +me. Should we fail now, after our long endurance, +now, when the goal was so near?</p> + +<p>The Pole was only one hundred miles beyond. The +attainment seemed almost certain.</p> + +<p>"<i>Accou-ou-o-toni-ah-younguluk</i>" (Beyond to-mor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>row +it will be better), I urged, trying to essay a smile. +"<i>Igluctoo!</i>" (Cheer up!)</p> + +<p>Holding up one hand, with a reach Poleward, +bending five fingers, one after the other, I tried to convey +the idea that in five sleeps the "Big Nail" would +be reached, and that then we would turn (pointing with +my fingers) homeward.</p> + +<p>"<i>Noona-me-neulia-capa—ahmisua</i>" (For home, +sweethearts and food in abundance), I said.</p> + +<p>"<i>Noona-terronga, neuliarongita, ootah—peterongito</i>" +(Land is gone; loved ones are lost; signs of life +have vanished).</p> + +<p>"<i>Tig-i-lay-waongacedla—nellu ikah-amisua</i>" (Return +will I, the sky and weather I do not understand. It +is very cold), said Ah-we-lah.</p> + +<p>"<i>Attuda-emongwah-ka</i>" (A little farther come), +I pleaded. "<i>Attudu-mikisungwah</i>" (Only a little +further).</p> + +<p>"<i>Sukinut-nellu</i>" (The sun I do not understand), +said E-tuk-i-shook.</p> + +<p>This had been a daily complaint for some days—the +approaching equality of the length of shadows for +night and day puzzled them. The failing night dip of +the sun left them without a guiding line to give direction. +They were lost in a landless, spiritless world, in which +the sky, the weather, the sun and all was a mystery.</p> + +<p>I knew my companions were brave. I was certain +of their fidelity. Could their mental despair be alleviated, +I felt convinced they could brace themselves for +another effort. I spoke kindly to them; I told them +what we had accomplished, that they were good and +brave, that their parents and their sweethearts would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> +be proud of them, and that as a matter of honor we +must not now fail.</p> + +<p>"<i>Tigishu-conitu</i>," I said. (The Pole is near.)</p> + +<p>"<i>Sinipa tedliman dossa-ooahtonie tomongma ah +youngulok tigilay toy hoy.</i>" (At the end of five sleeps +it is finished, beyond all is well, we return thereafter +quickly.)</p> + +<p>"<i>Seko shudi iokpok. Sounah ha-ah!</i>" they replied. +(On ice always is not good. The bones ache.)</p> + +<p>Then I said, "The ice is flat, the snow is good, the +sky is clear, the Great Spirit is with us, the Pole is near!"</p> + +<p>Ah-we-lah dully nodded his head. I noticed, however, +he wiped his eyes.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ka-bishuckto-emongwah</i>" (Come walk a little +further), I went on. "<i>Accou ooahtoni-ahningahna-matluk-tigilay-Inut-noona.</i>" +(Beyond to-morrow within +two moons we return to Eskimo lands.)</p> + +<p>"<i>K i s a h iglucto-tima-attahta-annona-neuliasing-wah</i>," +said Ah-we-lah. (At last, then it is to laugh! +There we will meet father and mother and little wives!)</p> + +<p>"<i>Ashuka-alningahna-matluk</i>," I returned. (Yes, +in two moons there will be water and meat and all in +plenty.)</p> + +<p>E-tuk-i-shook gazed at me intently. His eyes +brightened.</p> + +<p>As I spoke my own spirits rose to the final effort, +my lassitude gave way to a new enthusiasm. I felt the +fire kindling for many years aglow within me. The +goal was near; there remained but one step to the apex +of my ambition. I spoke hurriedly. The two sat up +and listened. Slowly they became inspired with my +intoxication. Never did I speak so vehemently.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span></p> + +<p>E-tuk-i-shook gripped his whip. "<i>Ka, aga</i>" (Come, +go!) he said.</p> + +<p>Ah-we-lah, determined but grim, braced his body +and shouted to the dogs—"<i>Huk, Huk, Huk</i>," and then +to us he said, "<i>Aga-Ka!</i>" (Go-come).</p> + +<p>With snapping whip we were off for that last hundred +miles.</p> + +<p>The animals pricked their ears, re-curled their tails, +and pulled at the traces. Shouting to keep up the forced +enthusiasm, we bounded forward on the last lap. A +sort of wild gratification filled my heart. I knew that +only mental enthusiasm would now prevent the defeat +which might yet come from our own bodies refusing to +go farther. Brain must now drive muscle. Fortunately +the sense of final victory imparted a supernormal mental +stimulus.</p> + +<p>Gray ice hummocks sped by us. My feet were so +tired that I seemed to walk on air. My body was so +light from weakness that I suppose I should hardly +have been surprised had I floated upward from the ice +in a gust of wind. I felt the blood moving in my veins +and stinging like needles in my joints as one does when +suffering with neurasthenia. I swung my axe. The +whip of my companions cut the air. The dogs leaped +over the ice, with crunching progress they pulled themselves +over hummocks much as cats climb trees. Distance +continued to fade behind us.</p> + +<p>On April 14, my observations gave latitude, 88° +21ʹ; longitude, 95° 52ʹ. The wind came with a satanic +cut from the west. There had been little drift. But +with a feeling of chagrin I saw that the ice before us +displayed signs of recent activity. It was more ir<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>regular, +with open cracks here and there. These we had +to avoid, but the sleds glided with less friction, and the +weary dogs maintained a better speed.</p> + +<p>With set teeth and newly sharpened resolutions, +we continued mile after mile of that last one hundred. +More dogs had gone into the stomachs of their hungry +companions, but there still remained a sufficient pull of +well-tried brute force for each sled. Although their +noisy vigor had been gradually lost in the long drag, +they still broke the frigid silence with an occasional outburst +of howls. Any fresh enthusiasm from the drivers +was quickly responded to by canine activity.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>We were in good trim to cover distance economically. +Our sledges were light, our bodies were thin. +We had lost, since leaving winter camp, judging from +appearances, from twenty-five to forty pounds each. +All our muscles had shriveled. The dogs retained +strength that was amazing. Stripped for the last lap, +one horizon after another was lifted.</p> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<p><b>From original field papers.</b>—<b>Observations of April 14, 1908.</b> Long. +95-52. Bar. 29.90 Falling. Temp. -44°. Clouds Cu. St. & Alt. St. 4. Wind +1-3. Mag. E.</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="" width="70%"> +<tr><td align='right'>96 </td><td align='right'>Noo<span class="u">n 0 </span></td><td align='right'>=22—02—05</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4 </td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 0 </span></td><td align='right'>=22—56—20</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>60 |<span class="overline"> 384 </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>2 |<span class="overline"> 44—58—25</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><span class="overline">6—24</span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 22—29—12</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>54 </td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>+2 </td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6½ </td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>2 |<span class="overline"> 22—31—12</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 27 </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 11—15—36</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'> 324 </td><td align='right'>R. & P.</td><td align='right'>—9 </td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>60 |<span class="overline"> 351 </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 11— 6—36</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><span class="overline">5—51 </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>90 </td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9—21—50 </td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 78—53—24</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><span class="overline">9—27—41 </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>9—27—41</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 88—21— 5</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="ralign">Shadow 30½ ft. (of tent pole 6 ft. above snow.)</p> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the forced effort which followed we frequently +became overheated. The temperature was steady at 44° +below zero, Fahrenheit. Perspiration came with ease, +and with a certain amount of pleasure. Later followed +a train of suffering for many days. The delight of the +birdskin shirt gave place to the chill of a wet blanket. +Our coats and trousers hardened to icy suits of armor. +It became quite impossible to dress after a sleep without +softening the stiffened furs with the heat of our bare +skin. Mittens, boots and fur stockings became quite +useless until dried out.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, at this time the rays of the sun were +warm enough to dry the furs in about three days, if +lashed to the sunny side of a sled as we marched along, +and strangely enough, the furs dried out without apparent +thawing. In these last days we felt more keenly +the pangs of perspiration than in all our earlier adventures. +We persistently used the amber-colored +goggles. They afforded protection to the eyes, but in +spite of every precaution, our distorted, frozen, burned +and withered faces lined a map in relief, of the hardships +endured en route.</p> + +<p>We were curious looking savages. The perpetual +glitter of the snows induced a squint of our eyes which +distorted our faces in a remarkable manner. The strong +light reflected from the crystal surface threw the muscles +about the eyes into a state of chronic contraction. The +iris was reduced to a mere pin-hole.</p> + +<p>The strong winds and drifting snows necessitated +the habit of peeping out of the corners of the eyes. +Nature, in attempting to keep the ball from hardening, +flushed it at all times with blood. To keep the seeing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> +windows of the mind open required a constant exertion +of will power. The effect was a set of expressions of +hardship and wrinkles which might be called the boreal +squint.</p> + +<p>This boreal squint is a part of the russet-bronze +physiognomy which falls to the lot of every Arctic +explorer. The early winds, with a piercing temperature, +start a flush of scarlet, while frequent frostbites leave +figures in black. Later the burning sun browns the +skin; subsequently, strong winds sap the moisture, +harden the skin and leave open fissures on the face. The +human face takes upon itself the texture and configuration +of the desolate, wind-driven world upon which it +looks.</p> + +<p>Hard work and reduced nourishment contract the +muscles, dispel the fat and leave the skin to shrivel in +folds. The imprint of the goggles, the set expression +of hard times, and the mental blank of the environment +remove all spiritual animation. Our faces assumed +the color and lines of old, withering, russet apples, +and would easily pass for the mummied countenances of +the prehistoric progenitors of man.</p> + +<p>In enforced efforts to spread out our stiffened legs +over the last reaches, there was left no longer sufficient +energy at camping times to erect snow shelters. Our +silk tent was pressed into use. Although the temperature +was still very low, the congenial rays pierced the silk +fabric and rested softly on our eye lids closed in heavy +slumber. In strong winds it was still necessary to erect +a sheltering wall, whereby to shield the tent.</p> + +<p>As we progressed over the last one hundred mile-step, +my mind was divested of its lethargy. Un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>consciously +I braced myself. My senses became more +keen. With a careful scrutiny I now observed the +phenomena of the strange world into which fortune had +pressed us—first of all men.</p> + +<p>Step by step, I invaded a world untrodden and unknown. +Dulled as I was by hardship, I thrilled with +the sense of the explorer in new lands, with the thrill +of discovery and conquest. "Then," as Keats says, "felt +I like some watcher of the skies, when a new planet +swims into his ken." In this land of ice I was master, +I was sole invader. I strode forward with an undaunted +glory in my soul.</p> + +<p>Signs of land, which I encouraged my companions +to believe were real, were still seen every day, but I +knew, of course, they were deceptive. It now seemed to +me that something unusual must happen, that some line +must cross our horizon to mark the important area into +which we were passing.</p> + +<p>Through vapor-charged air of crystal, my eyes ran +over plains moving in brilliant waves of running colors +toward dancing horizons. Mirages turned things topsy-turvy. +Inverted lands and queer objects ever rose and +fell, shrouded in mystery. All of this was due to the +atmospheric magic of the continued glory of midnight +suns in throwing piercing beams of light through superimposed +strata of air of varying temperature and +density.</p> + +<p>Daily, by careful measurements, I found that our +night shadows shortened and became more uniform during +the passing hours of the day, as the shadow dial was +marked.</p> + +<p>With a lucky series of astronomical observations<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> +our position was fixed for each stage of progress.</p> + +<p>Nearing the Pole, my imagination quickened. A +restless, almost hysterical excitement came over all of +us. My boys fancied they saw bears and seals. I had +new lands under observation frequently, but with a +change in the direction of light the horizon cleared. We +became more and more eager to push further into the +mystery. Climbing the long ladder of latitudes, there +was always the feeling that each hour's work was bringing +us nearer the Pole—the Pole which men had sought +for three centuries, and which, fortune favoring, should +be mine!</p> + +<p>Yet, I was often so physically tired that my mind +was, when the momentary intoxications passed, in a +sense, dulled. But the habit of seeing and of noting +what I had seen, had been acquired. The habit, yes, of +putting one foot in front of the other, mile after mile, +through the wild dreariness of ice, the habit of observing, +even though with aching, blurred eyes, and noting, +methodically, however wearily, what the tired eyes had +seen.</p> + +<p>From the eighty-eighth to the eighty-ninth parallel +the ice lay in large fields, the surface was less irregular +than formerly. In other respects it was about the same +as below the eighty-seventh. I observed here also, an +increasing extension of the range of vision. I seemed to +scan longer distances, and the ice along the horizon had +a less angular outline. The color of the sky and the ice +changed to deeper purple-blues. I had no way of checking +these impressions by other observations; the eagerness +to find something unusual may have fired my imagination, +but since the earth is flattened at the Pole, per<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>haps +a widened horizon would naturally be detected +there.</p> + +<p>At eight o'clock on the morning of April 19, we +camped on a picturesque old field, with convenient hummocks, +to the top of which we could easily rise for the +frequent outlook which we now maintained. We pitched +our tent, and silenced the dogs by blocks of pemmican. +New enthusiasm was aroused by a liberal pot of pea-soup +and a few chips of frozen meat. Then we bathed +in life-giving sunbeams, screened from the piercing air +by the strands of the silk-walled tent.</p> + +<p>The day was beautiful. Had our sense of appreciation +not been blunted by accumulated fatigue we should +have greatly enjoyed the play of light and color in the +ever-changing scene of sparkle. But in our condition +it was but an inducement to keep the eyes open and to +prolong interest long enough to dispel the growing complaint +of aching muscles.</p> + +<p>Ah-we-lah and E-tuk-i-shook were soon lost in profound +sleep, the only comfort in their hard lives. I remained +awake, as had been my habit for many preceding +days, to get nautical observations. My longitude +calculations lined us at 94° 3ʹ. At noon the sun's altitude +was carefully set on the sextant, and the latitude, +quickly reduced, gave 89° 31ʹ. The drift had carried us +too far east, but our advance was encouraging.</p> + +<p>I put down the instrument, wrote the reckonings in +my book. Then I gazed, with a sort of fascination, at +the figures. My heart began to thump wildly. Slowly +my brain whirled with exultation. I arose jubilant. +We were only 29 miles from the North Pole!</p> + +<p>I suppose I created quite a commotion about the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> +little camp. E-tuk-i-shook, aroused by the noise, awoke +and rubbed his eyes. I told him that in two average +marches we should reach the "<i>tigi-shu</i>"—the big nail. +He sprang to his feet and shouted with joy. He kicked +Ah-we-lah, none too gently, and told him the glad news.</p> + +<p>Together they went out to a hummock, and through +glasses, sought for a mark to locate so important a place +as the terrestrial axis! If but one sleep ahead, it must be +visible! So they told me, and I laughed. The sensation +of laughing was novel. At first I was quite startled. I +had not laughed for many days. Their idea was amusing, +but it was eminently sensible from their standpoint +and knowledge.</p> + +<p>I tried to explain to them that the Pole is not visible +to the eye, and that its position is located only by a repeated +use of the various instruments. Although this +was quite beyond their comprehension the explanation +entirely satisfied their curiosity. They burst out in hurrahs +of joy. For two hours they chanted, danced and +shouted the passions of wild life. Their joy, however, +was in the thought of a speedy turning back homeward, +I surmised.</p> + +<p>This, however, was the first real sign of pleasure or +rational emotion which they had shown for several +weeks. For some time I had entertained the fear that we +no longer possessed strength to return to land. This +unbridled flow of vigor dispelled that idea. My heart +throbbed with gladness. A font of new strength seemed +to gush forth within me. Considering through what we +had gone, I now marvel at the reserve forces latent in +us, and I sometimes feel that I should write, not of +human weakness, but a new gospel of human strength.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p> + +<p>With the Pole only twenty-nine miles distant, more +sleep was quite impossible. We brewed an extra pot of +tea, prepared a favorite broth of pemmican, dug up a +surprise of fancy biscuits and filled up on good things +to the limit of the allowance for our final feast days. The +dogs, which had joined the chorus of gladness, were +given an extra lump of pemmican. A few hours more +were agreeably spent in the tent. Then we started out +with new spirit for the uttermost goal of our world.</p> + +<p>Bounding joyously forward, with a stimulated +mind, I reviewed the journey. Obstacle after obstacle +had been overcome. Each battle won gave a spiritual +thrill, and courage to scale the next barrier. Thus had +been ever, and was still, in the unequal struggles between +human and inanimate nature, an incentive to go +onward, ever onward, up the stepping-stones to ultimate +success. And now, after a life-denying struggle in a +world where every element of Nature is against the +life and progress of man, triumph came with steadily +measured reaches of fifteen miles a day!</p> + +<p>We were excited to fever heat. Our feet were +light on the run. Even the dogs caught the infectious +enthusiasm. They rushed along at a pace which made +it difficult for me to keep a sufficient advance to set a +good course. The horizon was still eagerly searched +for something to mark the approaching boreal center. +But nothing unusual was seen. The same expanse of +moving seas of ice, on which we had gazed for five hundred +miles, swam about us as we drove onward.</p> + +<p>Looking through gladdened eyes, the scene assumed +a new glory. Dull blue and purple expanses +were transfigured into plains of gold, in which were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> +lakes of sapphire and rivulets of ruby fire. Engirdling +this world were purple mountains with gilded crests. +It was one of the few days on the stormy pack when all +Nature smiled with cheering lights.</p> + +<p>As the day advanced beyond midnight and the +splendor of the summer night ran into a clearer continued +day, the beams of gold on the surface snows +assumed a more burning intensity. Shadows of hummocks +and ice ridges became dyed with a deeper purple, +and in the burning orange world loomed before us Titan +shapes, regal and regally robed.</p> + +<p>From my position, a few hundred yards ahead of +the sleds, with compass and axe in hand, as usual, I +could not resist the temptation to turn frequently to see +the movement of the dog train with its new fire. In +this backward direction the color scheme was reversed. +About the horizon the icy walls gleamed like beaten +gold set with gem-spots of burning colors; the plains +represented every shade of purple and blue, and over +them, like vast angel wings outspread, shifted golden +pinions. Through the sea of palpitating color, the dogs +came, with spirited tread, noses down, tails erect and +shoulders braced to the straps, like chariot horses. In +the magnifying light they seemed many times their normal +size. The young Eskimos, chanting songs of love, +followed with easy, swinging steps. The long whip +was swung with a brisk crack. Over all arose a cloud +of frosted breath, which, like incense smoke, became silvered +in the light, a certain signal of efficient motive +power.</p> + +<p>With our destination reachable over smooth ice, in +these brighter days of easier travel our long chilled blood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> +was stirred to double action, our eyes opened to beauty +and color, and a normal appreciation of the wonders of +this new strange and wonderful world.</p> + +<p>As we lifted the midnight's sun to the plane of the +midday sun, the shifting Polar desert became floored +with a sparkling sheen of millions of diamonds, through +which we fought a way to ulterior and greater glory.</p> + +<p>Our leg cramps eased and our languid feet lifted +buoyantly from the steady drag as the soul arose to +effervescence. Fields of rich purple, lined with running +liquid gold, burning with flashes of iridescent colors, +gave a sense of gladness long absent from our weary +life. The ice was much better. We still forced a way +over large fields, small pressure areas and narrow leads. +But, when success is in sight, most troubles seem lighter. +We were thin, with faces burned, withered, frozen and +torn in fissures, with clothes ugly from overwear. Yet +men never felt more proud than we did, as we militantly +strode off the last steps to the world's very +top!</p> + +<p>Camp was pitched early in the morning of April +20. The sun was northeast, the pack glowed in tones +of lilac, the normal westerly air brushed our frosty faces. +Our surprising burst on enthusiasm had been nursed to +its limits. Under it a long march had been made over +average ice, with the usual result of overpowering +fatigue. Too tired and sleepy to wait for a cup of tea, +we poured melted snow into our stomach and pounded +the pemmican with an axe to ease the task of the jaws. +Our eyes closed before the meal was finished, and the +world was lost to us for eight hours. Waking, I took +observations which gave latitude 89° 46ʹ.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p> + +<p>Late at night, after another long rest, we hitched +the dogs and loaded the sleds. When action began, the +feeling came that no time must be lost. Feverish impatience +seized me.</p> + +<p>Cracking our whips, we bounded ahead. The boys +sang. The dogs howled. Midnight of April 21 had +just passed.</p> + +<p>Over the sparkling snows the post-midnight sun +glowed like at noon. I seemed to be walking in some +splendid golden realms of dreamland. As we bounded +onward the ice swam about me in circling rivers of gold.</p> + +<p>E-tuk-i-shook and Ah-we-lah, though thin and +ragged, had the dignity of the heroes of a battle which +had been fought through to success.</p> + +<p>We all were lifted to the paradise of winners as we +stepped over the snows of a destiny for which we had +risked life and willingly suffered the tortures of an icy +hell. The ice under us, the goal for centuries of brave, +heroic men, to reach which many had suffered terribly +and terribly died, seemed almost sacred. Constantly +and carefully I watched my instruments in recording +this final reach. Nearer and nearer they recorded our +approach. Step by step, my heart filled with a strange +rapture of conquest.</p> + +<p>At last we step over colored fields of sparkle, climbing +walls of purple and gold—finally, under skies of +crystal blue, with flaming clouds of glory, we touch +the mark! The soul awakens to a definite triumph; +there is sunrise within us, and all the world of night-darkened +trouble fades. We are at the top of the world! +The flag is flung to the frigid breezes of the North +Pole!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 538px;"> +<img src="images/illo_323.jpg" width="538" height="800" alt="ROUTE TO THE POLE AND RETURN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">ROUTE TO THE POLE AND RETURN<br /> +A triangle of 30,000 square miles cut out of the mysterious unknown</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p> +<h2>AT THE NORTH POLE</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">OBSERVATIONS AT THE POLE—METEOROLOGICAL AND ASTRONOMICAL +PHENOMENA—SINGULAR STABILITY +AND UNIFORMITY OF THE THERMOMETER AND +BAROMETER—A SPOT WHERE ONE'S SHADOW IS THE +SAME LENGTH EACH HOUR OF THE TWENTY-FOUR—EIGHT +POLAR ALTITUDES OF THE SUN</p> + +<h3>XX<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">Full and Final Proofs of the Attainment</span></h3> + + +<p>Looking about me, after the first satisfactory observation, +I viewed the vacant expanse. The first realization +of actual victory, of reaching my lifetime's goal, +set my heart throbbing violently and my brain aglow. +I felt the glory which the prophet feels in his vision, +with which the poet thrills in his dream. About the +frozen plains my imagination evoked aspects of grandeur. +I saw silver and crystal palaces, such as were +never built by man, with turrets flaunting "pinions glorious, +golden." The shifting mirages seemed like the +ghosts of dead armies, magnified and transfigured, huge +and spectral, moving along the horizon and bearing the +wind-tossed phantoms of golden blood-stained banners.</p> + +<p>The low beating of the wind assumed the throb of +martial music. Bewildered, I realized all that I had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> +suffered, all the pain of fasting, all the anguish of long +weariness, and I felt that this was my reward. I had +scaled the world, and I stood at the Pole!</p> + +<p>By a long and consecutive series of observations +and mental tabulations of various sorts on our journey +northward, continuing here, I knew, beyond peradventure +of doubt, that I was at a spot which was as near as +possible, by usual methods of determination, five hundred +and twenty miles from Svartevoeg, a spot toward +which men had striven for more than three centuries—a +spot known as the North Pole, and where I stood first +of white men. In my own achievement I felt, that +dizzy moment, that all the heroic souls who had braved +the rigors of the Arctic region found their own hopes' +fulfilment. I had realized their dream. I had culminated +with success the efforts of all the brave men who +had failed before me. I had finally justified their sacrifices, +their very death; I had proven to humanity +humanity's supreme triumph over a hostile, death-dealing +Nature. It seemed that the souls of these dead +exulted with me, and that in some sub-strata of the air, +in notes more subtle than the softest notes of music, +they sang a pæan in the spirit with me.</p> + +<p>We had reached our destination. My relief was +indescribable. The prize of an international marathon +was ours. Pinning the Stars and Stripes to a tent-pole, +I asserted the achievement in the name of the ninety +millions of countrymen who swear fealty to that flag. +And I felt a pride as I gazed at the white-and-crimson +barred pinion, a pride which the claim of no second +victor has ever taken from me.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 266px;"> +<img src="images/illo_326.png" width="266" height="740" alt="CLIMBING THE LADDER OF +LATITUDES" title="" /> +<span class="caption">CLIMBING THE LADDER OF +LATITUDES</span> +</div> + +<p>My mental intoxication did not interfere with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> +routine work which was +now necessary. Having +reached the goal, it was +imperative that all scientific +observations be made +as carefully as possible, as +quickly as possible. To +the taking of these I set +myself at once, while my +companions began the +routine work of unloading +the sledges and building +an igloo.</p> + +<p>Our course when arriving +at the Pole, as near +as it was possible to determine, +was on the +ninety-seventh meridian. +The day was April 21, +1908. It was local noon. +The sun was 11° 55ʺ above +the magnetic northern +horizon. My shadow, a +dark purple-blue streak +with ill-defined edges, +measured twenty-six feet +in length. The tent pole, +marked as a measuring +stick, was pushed into the +snow, leaving six feet +above the surface. This +gave a shadow twenty-eight +feet long.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p> + +<p>Several sextant observations gave a latitude a few +seconds below 90°, which, because of unknown refraction +and uncertain accuracy of time, was placed at 90°. +(Other observations on the next day gave similar results, +although we shifted camp four miles toward magnetic +south.) A broken hand-axe was tied to the end +of a life-line; this was lowered through a fresh break in +the ice, and the angle which it made with the surface +indicated a drift toward Greenland. The temperature, +gauged by a spirit thermometer, was 37.7°, F. The mercury +thermometer indicated -36°. The atmospheric +pressure by the aneroid barometer was at 29.83. It +was falling, and indicated a coming change in the +weather. The wind was very light, and had veered +from northeast to south, according to the compass card.</p> + +<p>The sky was almost clear, of a dark purple blue, +with a pearly ice-blink or silver reflection extending east, +and a smoky water-sky west, in darkened, ill-defined +streaks, indicating continuous ice or land toward Bering +Sea, and an active pack, with some open water, toward +Spitzbergen. To the north and south were wine-colored +gold-shot clouds, flung in long banners, with +ragged-pointed ends along the horizon. The ice about +was nearly the same as it had been continuously since +leaving the eighty-eighth parallel. It was slightly more +active, and showed, by news cracks and oversliding, +young ice signs of recent disturbance.</p> + +<p>The field upon which we camped was about three +miles long and two miles wide. Measured at a new +crevasse, the ice was sixteen feet thick. The tallest +hummock measured twenty-eight feet above water. The +snow lay in fine feathery crystals, with no surface crust.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> +About three inches below the soft snow was a sub-surface +crust strong enough to carry the bodily weight. +Below this were other successive crusts, and a porous +snow in coarse crystals, with a total depth of about +fifteen inches.</p> + +<p>Our igloo was built near one edge in the lee of an +old hummock about fifteen feet high. Here a recent +bank of drift snow offered just the right kind of material +from which to cut building blocks. While a shelter was +thus being walled, I moved about constantly to read my +instruments and to study carefully the local environment.</p> + +<p>In a geographic sense we had now arrived at a +point where all meridians meet. The longitude, therefore, +was zero. Time was a negative problem. There +being no longitude, there can be no time. The hour +lines of Greenwich, of New York, of Peking, and of all +the world here run together. Figuratively, if this position +is the pin-point of the earth's axis, it is possible to +have all meridians under one foot, and therefore it +should be possible to step from midnight to midday, +from the time of San Francisco to that of Paris, from +one side of the globe to the other, as time is measured.</p> + +<p>Here there is but one day and but one night in each +year, but the night of six months is relieved by about one +hundred days of continuous twilight. Geographically, +there was here but one direction. It was south on every +line of the dial of longitude—north, east and west had +vanished. We had reached a point where true direction +became a paradox and a puzzle. It was south before us, +south behind us, and south on every side. But the compass, +pointing to the magnetic Pole along the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> +ninety-seventh meridian, was as useful as ever. (To avoid +statements easily misunderstood, all our directions about +the Pole will be given as taken from the compass, and +without reference to the geographer's anomaly of its +being south in every direction.)</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illo_329.jpg" width="600" height="747" alt="WHERE ALL MERIDIANS MEET AND EVERY DIRECTION IS SOUTH" title="" /> +<span class="caption">WHERE ALL MERIDIANS MEET AND EVERY DIRECTION IS SOUTH<br /> +The Pivotal Point on which the earth turns.</span> +<p class="center">* Magnetic Pole</p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<p><b>My first noon observations</b> gave the following result, which is copied +from the original paper, as it was written at the Pole and reproduced +photographically on another page. April 21, 1908: Long., 97-W.; Bar., +29-83; Temp., —37.7; Clouds Alt., St., 1; Wind, 1; Mag., S.; Iceblink E.; +Water Sky W.</p> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="" width="70%"> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>Noon Alt.<span class="u"> 0 </span></td><td align='right'>23—33—25</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'> </td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>+2 </td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>2 |<span class="overline"> 23—35—25</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>50 </td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 11—47—42</span></td><td align='right'>5</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6½ </td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>+15—56</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 25 </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 12— 3—38</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'> 300 </td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>—9 </td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>60 |<span class="overline"> 325 </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 11—54—38</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><span class="overline">5—25 </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>90 </td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>11—48—58 </td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 78— 5—22</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><span class="overline">11—54—23 </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>11—54—23</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 89—59—45</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="ralign">Shadows 28 ft. (of 6 ft. pole). +</p> +</div> + +<p>Taking advantage of our brief stay, the boys set +up the ice-axe and drying sticks, and hung upon them +their perspiration-wetted and frosted furs to dry. +Hanging out wet clothes and an American flag at the +North Pole seemed an amusing incongruity.</p> + +<p>The puzzled standpoint of my Eskimos was amusing. +They tried hard to appreciate the advantages of +finding this suppositious "<i>tigi shu</i>" (big nail), but +actually here, they could not, even from a sense of deference +to me and my judgment, entirely hide their feeling +of disappointment.</p> + +<p>On the advance I had told them that an actual "big +nail" would not be found—only the point where it ought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> +to be. But I think they really hoped that if it had +actually disappeared they should find that it had come +back into place after all!</p> + +<p>In building our igloo the boys frequently looked +about expectantly. Often they ceased cutting snow-blocks +and rose to a hummock to search the horizon for +something which, to their idea, must mark this important +spot, for which we had struggled against hope and +all the dictates of personal comforts. At each breathing +spell their eager eyes picked some sky sign which to +them meant land or water, or the play of some god of +land or sea. The naive and sincere interest which the +Eskimos on occasions feel in the mystery of the spirit-world +gives them an imaginative appreciation of nature +often in excess of that of the more material and skeptical +Caucasian.</p> + +<p>Arriving at the mysterious place where, they felt, +something should happen, their imagination now forced +an expression of disappointment. In a high-keyed condition, +all their superstitions recurred to them with +startling reality.</p> + +<p>In one place the rising vapor proved to be the breath +of the great submarine god—the "<i>Ko-Koyah</i>." In another +place, a motionless little cloud marked the land in +which dwelt the "<i>Turnah-huch-suak</i>," the great Land +God, and the air spirits were represented by the different +winds, with sex relations.</p> + +<p>Ah-we-lah and E-tuk-i-shook, with the astuteness of +the aborigine, who reads Nature as a book, were sharp +enough to note that the high air currents did not correspond +to surface currents; for, although the wind was +blowing homeward, and changed its force and direc<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>tion, +a few high clouds moved persistently in a different +direction.</p> + +<p>This, to them, indicated a warfare among the air +spirits. The ice and snow were also animated. To +them the whole world presented a rivalry of conflicting +spirits which offered never-ending topics of conversation.</p> + +<p>As the foot pressed the snow, its softness, its rebound, +or its metallic ring indicated sentiments of +friendliness or hostility. The ice, by its color, movement +or noise, spoke the humor of its animation, or that +of the supposed life of the restless sea beneath it. In +interpreting these spirit signs, the two expressed considerable +difference of opinion. Ah-we-lah saw dramatic +situations and became almost hysterical with +excitement; E-tuk-i-shook saw only a monotone of the +normal play of life. Such was the trend of interest and +conversation as the building of the igloos was completed.</p> + +<p>Contrary to our usual custom, the dogs had been +allowed to rest in their traces attached to the sleds. +Their usual malicious inquisitiveness exhausted, they +were too tired to examine the sleds to steal food. But +now, as the house was completed, holes were chipped +with a knife in ice-shoulders, through which part of a +trace was passed, and each team was thus securely +fastened to a ring cut in ice-blocks. Then each dog +was given a double ration of pemmican. Their pleasure +was expressed by an extra twist of the friendly tails and +an extra note of gladness from long-contracted stomachs. +Finishing their meal, they curled up and warmed +the snow, from which they took an occasional bite to +furnish liquid for their gastric economy. Almost two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> +days of rest followed, and this was the canine celebration +of the Polar attainment.</p> + +<p>We withdrew to the inside of the dome of snow-blocks, +pulled in a block to close the doors, spread out +our bags as beds on the platform of leveled snow, pulled +off boots and trousers, and slipped half-length into the +bristling reindeer furs. We then discussed, with +chummy congratulations, the success of our long drive +to the world's end.</p> + +<p>While thus engaged, the little Juel stove piped the +cheer of the pleasure of ice-water, soon to quench our +chronic thirst. In the meantime, Ah-we-lah and E-tuk-i-shook +pressed farther and farther into their bags, +pulled over the hoods, and closed their eyes to an overpowering +fatigue. But my lids did not easily close. I +watched the fire. More ice went into the kettle. With +the satisfaction of an ambition fulfilled, I peeped out +occasionally through the pole-punched port, and noted +the horizon glittering with gold and purple.</p> + +<p>Quivers of self-satisfying joy ran up my spine and +relieved the frosty mental bleach of the long-delayed +Polar anticipation.</p> + +<p>In due time we drank, with grateful satisfaction, +large quantities of ice-water, which was more delicious +than any wine. A pemmican soup, flavored with musk +ox tenderloins, steaming with heat—a luxury seldom +enjoyed in our camps—next went down with warming, +satisfying gulps. This was followed by a few strips +of frozen fresh meat, then by a block of pemmican. +Later, a few squares of musk ox suet gave the taste of +sweets to round up our meal. Last of all, three cups +of tea spread the chronic stomach-folds, after which we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> +reveled in the sense of fulness of the best meal of +many weeks.</p> + +<p>With full stomachs and the satisfaction of a worthy +task well performed, we rested.</p> + +<p>We had reached the zenith of man's Ultima Thule, +which had been sought for more than three centuries. +In comfortable berths of snow we tried to sleep, turning +with the earth on its northern axis.</p> + +<p>But sleep for me was impossible. At six o'clock, +or six hours after our arrival at local noon, I arose, went +out of the igloo, and took a double set of observations. +Returning, I did some figuring, lay down on my bag, +and at ten o'clock, or four hours later, leaving Ah-we-lah +to guard the camp and dogs, E-tuk-i-shook joined me to +make a tent camp about four miles to the magnetic +south. My object was to have a slightly different position +for subsequent observations.</p> + +<p>Placing our tent, bags and camp equipment on a +sled, we pushed it over the ice field, crossed a narrow +lead sheeted with young ice, and moved on to another +field which seemed to have much greater dimensions. +We erected the tent not quite two hours later, in time +for a midnight observation. These sextant readings of +the sun's altitude were continued for the next twenty-four +hours.</p> + +<p>In the idle times between observations, I went over +to a new break between the field on which we were +camped and that on which Ah-we-lah guarded the dogs. +Here the newly-formed sheets of ice slid over each other +as the great, ponderous fields stirred to and fro. A +peculiar noise, like that of a crying child, arose. It +came seemingly from everywhere, intermittently, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> +successive crying spells. Lying down, and putting my +fur-cushioned ear to the edge of the old ice, I heard a +distant thundering noise, the reverberations of the +moving, grinding pack, which, by its wind-driven sweep, +was drifting over the unseen seas of mystery. In an +effort to locate the cry, I searched diligently along the +lead. I came to a spot where two tiny pieces of ice +served as a mouthpiece. About every fifteen seconds +there were two or three sharp, successive cries. With +the ice-axe I detached one. The cries stopped; but +other cries were heard further along the line.</p> + +<p>The time for observations was at hand, and I returned +to take up the sextant. Returning later to the +lead, to watch the seas breathe, the cry seemed stilled. +The thin ice-sheets were cemented together, and in an +open space nearby I had an opportunity to study the +making and breaking of the polar ice.</p> + +<p>That tiny film of ice which voiced the baby cries +spreads the world's most irresistible power. In its +making we have the nucleus for the origin of the polar +pack, that great moving crust of the earth which +crunches ships, grinds rocks, and sweeps mountains into +the sea. Beginning as a mere microscopic crystal, successive +crystals, by their affinity for each other, unite to +make a disc. These discs, by the same law of cohesion, +assemble and unite. Now the thin sheet, the first sea +ice, is complete, and either rests to make the great field +of ice, or spreads from floe to floe and from field to +field, thus spreading, bridging and mending the great +moving masses which cover the mid-polar basin.</p> + +<p>Another law of nature was solved by a similar +insignificant incident. In spreading our things out to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> +air and dry (for things will dry in wind and sun, even +at a very low temperature), two pieces of canvas were +thrown on a hummock. It was a white canvas sled-cover +and a black strip of canvas, in which the boat fittings +were wrapped. When these strips of canvas were +lifted it was found that under the part of the black +canvas, resting on a slope at right angles to the sun, +the snow had melted and recongealed. Under the white +canvas the snow had not changed. The temperature +was -41°; we had felt no heat, but this black canvas +had absorbed enough heat from a feeble sun to melt +the snow beneath it. This little lesson in physics began +to interest me, and on the return many similar experiments +were made. As the long, tedious marches were +made, I asked myself the questions: Why is snow +white? Why is the sky blue? And why does black +burn snow when white does not?</p> + +<p>Little by little, in the long drive of monotony, satisfactory +answers came to these questions. Thus, in +seeking abstract knowledge, the law of radiation was +thoroughly examined. In doing this, there came to me +slowly the solution of various problems of animal life, +and eventually there was uncovered what to me proved +a startling revelation in the incidents that led up to +animal coloring in the Arctic. For here I found that +the creatures' fur and feathers were colored in accord +with their needs of absorbing external heat or of conserving +internal heat. The facts here indicated will be +presented later, when we deal with the snow-fitted creatures +at close range.</p> + +<p>One of the impressions which I carried with me of +this night march was that the sun seemed low—lower,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> +indeed, than that of midday, which, in reality, was not +true, for the observations placed it nine minutes higher. +This was an indication of the force of habit. In the +northward march we had noted a considerable relative +difference in the height of the night sun and that of the +day. Although this difference had vanished now, the +mind at times refused to grasp the remarkable change.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>At the Pole I was impressed by a peculiar uniformity +in the temperature of the atmosphere throughout +the twenty-four hours, and also by a strange monotone +in color and light of sea and sky. I had begun +to observe this as I approached the boreal center. The +strange equability of light and color, of humidity and of +air temperatures extended an area one hundred miles +about the Pole. This was noted both on my coming +and going over this district.</p> + +<p>Approaching the Pole, and as the night sun gradually +lifted, an increasing equalization of the temperature +of night and day followed. Three hundred miles +from the Pole the thermometer at night had been from +10° to 20° lower than during the day. There the shivering +chill of midnight made a strong contrast to the burning, +heatless glitter of midday. At the Pole the thermometer +did not rise or fall appreciably for certain +fixed hours of the day or night, but remained almost +uniform during the entire twenty-four hours.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span></p> + +<p>This, to a less notable extent, was true also of the +barometer. Farther south there had been a difference +in the day and night range of the barometer. Here, +although the night winds continued more actively than +those of the day, the barometer was less variable than at +any time on my journey.</p> + +<p>At the Pole the tendency of change in force and +direction of air currents, observed farther south, for +morning and evening periods, was no longer noted. But +when strong winds brushed the pack, a good deal of the +Polar equalization gave place to a radical difference, +giving a period for high and low temperatures; which +period, however, did not correspond to the usual hours +of day or night. The winds, therefore, seemed to carry +to us the sub-Polar inequality of atmospheric variation +in temperature and pressure. Many of the facts bearing +upon this problem were not learned until later. +Subsequently, I learned, also, that strong winds often +disturb the Polar atmospheric sameness; but all is given +here because of the striking impression which it made +upon me at this time.</p> + +<p>In the region about the Pole I observed that, +although there were remarkable and beauteous color +blendings in the sky, the intense contrasts and the spectacular +display of cloud effects, seen in more southern +regions, were absent.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_339.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="FIRST CAMP AT THE POLE, APRIL 21, 1908" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIRST CAMP AT THE POLE, APRIL 21, 1908</span> +</div> + +<p>A color suffusion is common throughout the entire +Arctic zone. Light, pouring from the low-lying sun, +is reflected from the ice in an indescribable blaze. From +millions of ice slopes, with millions and millions of tiny +reflecting surfaces, each one a mirror, some large, some +smaller than specks of diamond dust, this light is sent +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> +back in different directions in burning waves to the sky. +A liquid light seems forced back from the sky into every +tiny crevice of this bejeweled wonderland. One color +invariably predominates at a time. Sometimes the ice +and air and sky are suffused with a hue of rose, again of +orange, again of a light alloyed yellow, again blue; and, +as we get farther north, more dominantly purple. Farther +south, in our journey northward, we had viewed +color effects in reality incomparably more beautiful than +those in the regions about the Pole. The sun, farther +south, in rising and setting, and with limitless changes +of polarized and refracted light, passing through strata +of atmosphere of varying depths of different density, +produces kaleidoscopic changes of burning color.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 538px;"> +<img src="images/illo_340.jpg" width="538" height="800" alt="AT THE POLE—"WE WERE THE ONLY PULSATING CREATURES IN A +DEAD WORLD OF ICE"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">AT THE POLE—“WE WERE THE ONLY PULSATING CREATURES IN A +DEAD WORLD OF ICE”</span> +</div> + +<p>At the Pole there were sunbursts, but because of +the slight change in the sun's dip to the horizon, the prevailing +light was invariably in shades running to purple. +At first my imagination evoked a more glowing wonder +than in reality existed; as the hours wore on, and as the +wants of my body asserted themselves, I began to see +the vacant spaces with a disillusionizing eye.</p> + +<p>The set of observations given here, taken every six +hours, from noon on April 21 to midnight on April 22, +1908, fixed our position with reasonable certainty.</p> + +<p>These figures do not give the exact position for the +normal spiral ascent of the sun, which is about fifty seconds +for each hour, or five minutes for each six hours; +but the uncertainties of error by refraction and ice-drift +do not permit such accuracy of observations. These +figures are submitted, therefore, not to establish the pin-point +accuracy of our position, but to show that we had +approximately reached a spot where the sun, throughout +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> +the twenty-four hours, circled the heavens in a line +nearly parallel to the horizon.</p> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<h4>THE SUN'S TRUE CENTRAL ALTITUDE AT THE POLE.</h4> + +<p class="center">April 21 and 22, 1908.</p> + +<p>Seven successive observations, taken every six hours.</p> + +<p>Each observation is reduced for an instrumental error of +2ʹ.</p> + +<p>For semi-diameter and also for refraction and parallax, —9ʹ.</p> + +<p>The seven reductions are each calculated from two sextant readings, +generally of an upper and lower limb.</p> + +<p class="center">(TAKEN FROM MY FIELD NOTES.)</p> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>April 21, 1908, 97th meridian local<br /> +time—12 o'clock noon—</td><td align='right'>11°—54ʹ—40ʺ</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>6 P. M. (same camp).</td><td align='right'>12—00—10</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Moved camp 4 miles magnetic South</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>12 o'clock (midnight)</td><td align='right'>12— 3—50</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>April 22nd, 6 A. M.</td><td align='right'>12— 9—30</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>12 o'clock noon</td><td align='right'>12—14—20</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>6 P. M.</td><td align='right'>12—18—40</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>12 o'clock (midnight)</td><td align='right'>12—25—10</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class='ralign'>Temperature, —41. Barometer, 30.05.<br /> +Shadow 27½ feet (of 6-foot pole).</p> +</div> + +<p>With the use of the sextant, the artificial horizon, +pocket chronometers, and the usual instruments and +methods of explorers, our observations were continued +and our positions were fixed with the most painstakingly +careful safeguards possible against inaccuracy. +The value of all such observations as proof of a Polar +success, however, is open to such interpretation as the +future may determine. This applies, not only to me, +but to anyone who bases any claim upon them.</p> + +<p>To me there were many seemingly insignificant +facts noted in our northward progress which left the +imprint of milestones. Our footprints marked a road +ever onward into the unknown. Many of these almost +unconscious reckonings took the form of playful impressions, +and were not even at the time written down.</p> + +<p>In the first press reports of my achievement there +was not space to go into minute details, nor did the pres<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>entation +of the subject permit an elaboration on all the +data gathered. But now, in the light of a better perspective, +it seems important that every possible phase of +the minutest detail be presented. For only by a careful +consideration of every phase of every phenomena en +route can a true verdict be obtained upon this widely +discussed subject of Polar attainment.</p> + +<p>And now, right here, I want you to consider carefully +with me one thing which made me feel sure that +we had reached the Pole. This is the subject of shadows—our +own shadows on the snow-covered ice. A +seemingly unimportant phenomenon which had often +been a topic of discussion, and so commonplace that I +only rarely referred to it in my notebooks, our own +shadows on the snow-cushioned ice had told of northward +movement, and ultimately proved to my satisfaction +that the Pole had been reached.</p> + +<p>In our northward progress—to explain my shadow +observations from the beginning—for a long time after +our start from Svartevoeg, our shadows did not perceptibly +shorten or brighten, to my eyes. The natives, +however, got from these shadows a never-ending variety +of topics of conversation. They foretold storms, located +game and read the story of home entanglements. Far +from land, far from every sign of a cheering, solid earth, +wandering with our shadows over the hopeless desolation +of the moving seas of glitter, I, too, took a keen +interest in the blue blots that represented our bodies. +At noon, by comparison with later hours, they were +sharp, short, of a dark, restful blue. At this time a +thick atmosphere of crystals rested upon the ice pack, +and when the sun sank the strongest purple rays could +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> +not penetrate the frosty haze. Long before the time for +sunset, even on clear days, the sun was lost in low clouds +of drifting needles.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 560px;"> +<img src="images/illo_344.jpg" width="560" height="800" alt="SHADOW-CIRCLES INDICATING THE APPROACH TO THE POLE" title="" /> +<p class="sblockquot">Shadow-circle about 250 +miles from the Pole. Circle +from which extend radiating +shadow-lines mark position +of man.</p> + +<p class="sblockquot">Shadow-circle when nearing +the Pole, showing less difference +in length during the +changing hours.</p> + +<p class="sblockquot">Shadow-circle at the Pole; +standing on the same spot, +at each hour, one's shadow +is always apparently of the +same length.</p> +<span class="caption">SHADOW-CIRCLES INDICATING THE APPROACH TO THE POLE<br /> +Showing approximately the relative length of a man's shadow +for each hour of the twenty-four-hour day.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span></p> + +<p>After passing the eighty-eighth parallel there was +a notable change in our shadows. The night shadow +lengthened; the day shadow, by comparison, shortened. +The boys saw in this something which they could not +understand. The positive blue grew to a permanent +purple, and the sharp outlines ran to vague, indeterminate +edges.</p> + +<p>Now at the Pole there was no longer any difference +in length, color or sharpness of outline between the +shadow of the day or night.</p> + +<p>"What does it all mean?" they asked. The Eskimos +looked with eager eyes at me to explain, but my +vocabulary was not comprehensive enough to give them +a really scientific explanation, and also my brain was too +weary from the muscular poison of fatigue to frame +words.</p> + +<p>The shadows of midnight and those of midday were +the same. The sun made a circle about the heavens in +which the eye detected no difference in its height above +the ice, either night or day. Throughout the twenty-four +hours there was no perceptible rise or set in the +sun's seeming movement. Now, at noon, the shadow +represented in its length the altitude of the sun—about +twelve degrees. At six o'clock it was the same. At +midnight it was the same. At six o'clock in the morning +it was the same.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_346a.jpg" width="640" height="436" alt="" title="" /> +<p class="sblockquot">At a latitude about New York, a man's shadow lengthens +hour by hour as the sun descends toward the horizon at +nightfall.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_346b.jpg" width="640" height="301" alt="" title="" /> +<p class="sblockquot">At the North Pole, a man's shadow is of equal length +during the entire twenty-four hours, since the sun moves +spirally around the heavens at about the same apparent +height above the horizon throughout the twenty-four-hour +day.</p> +</div> + +<p>A picture of the snowhouse and ourselves, taken at +the same time and developed a year later, gives the same +length of shadow. The compass pointed south. The +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> +night drop of the thermometer had vanished. Let us, +for the sake of argument, grant that all our instrumental +observations are wrong. Here is a condition of +things in which I believed, and still believe, the eye, without +instrumental assistance, places the sun at about the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>same height for every hour of the day and night. It is +only on the earth's axis that such an observation is +possible.</p> + +<p>There was about us no land. No fixed point. Absolutely +nothing upon which to rest the eye to give the +sense of location or to judge distance.</p> + +<p>Here everything moves. The sea breathes, and +lifts the crust of ice which the wind stirs. The pack +ever drifts in response to the pull of the air and the +drive of the water. Even the sun, the only fixed dot +in this stirring, restless world, where all you see is, without +your seeing it, moving like a ship at sea, seems to +have a rapid movement in a gold-flushed circle not far +above endless fields of purple crystal; but that movement +is never higher, never lower—always in the same +fixed path. The instruments detect a slight spiral +ascent, day after day, but the eye detects no change.</p> + +<p>Although I had measured our shadows at times on +the northward march, at the Pole these shadow notations +were observed with the same care as the measured +altitude of the sun by the sextant. A series was made +on April 22, after E-tuk-i-shook and I had left Ah-we-lah +in charge of our first camp at the Pole. We +made a little circle for our feet in the snow. E-tuk-i-shook +stood in the foot circle. At midnight the first +line was cut in the snow to the end of his shadow, and +then I struck a deep hole with the ice-axe. Every hour +a similar line was drawn out from his foot. At the end +of twenty-four hours, with the help of Ah-we-lah, a +circle was circumscribed along the points, which marked +the end of the shadow for each hour. The result is +represented in the snow diagram on the next page.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 480px;"> +<img src="images/illo_348.jpg" width="480" height="556" alt="SHADOW DIAL AT THE POLE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">SHADOW DIAL AT THE POLE</span> + +<p class="sblockquot">At the Pole, a man's shadow is about the same length for every hour of the +double day. When a shadow line is drawn in the snow from a man's foot in a +marked dial, the human shadows take the place of the hands of a clock and +mark the time by compass bearing. The relative length of these shadows also +give the latitude or a man's position north or south of the equator. When +during two turns around the clock dial, the shadows are all of about equal length, +the position of the earth's axis is positively reached—even if all other observations +fail. This simple demonstration is an indisputable proof of being on +the North Pole.</p> + +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the northward march we did not stay up all of +bedtime to play with shadow circles. But, at this time, +to E-tuk-i-shook the thing had a spiritual interest. To +me it was a part of the act of proving that the Pole had +been attained. For only about the Pole, I argued, +could all shadows be of equal length. Because of this +combination of keen interests, we managed to find an +excuse, even during sleep hours, to draw a line on our +shadow circle.</p> + +<p>Here, then, I felt, was an important observation +placing me with fair accuracy at the Pole, and, unlike +all other observations, it was not based on the impossible +dreams of absolutely accurate time or sure corrections +for refraction.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<span class="caption">HOW THE ALTITUDE OF THE SUN ABOVE THE HORIZON +FIXES THE POSITION OF THE NORTH POLE</span> +<img src="images/illo_349.jpg" width="640" height="322" alt="HOW THE ALTITUDE OF THE SUN ABOVE THE HORIZON +FIXES THE POSITION OF THE NORTH POLE" title="" /> +<p class="sblockquot">The exact altitude of the sun at noon of April 22, 1908, on the pole, was +12° 9ʹ 16ʺ, but owing to ice-drift—the impossibility of accurate time—and +unknown error by refraction, no such pin-point accuracy can be recorded. +At each hour the sun, circling about the horizon, cast a shadow of uniform +length.</p> +</div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span></p> + +<p>At the place where E-tuk-i-shook and I camped, +four miles south of where I had left Ah-we-lah with the +dogs, only two big ice hummocks were in sight. There +were more spaces of open water than at our first camp. +After a midnight observation—of April 22—we returned +to camp. When the dogs saw us approaching in +the distance they rose, and a chorus of howls rang over +the regions of the Pole—regions where dogs had never +howled before. All the scientific work being finished, +we began hastily to make final preparations for +departure.</p> + +<p>We had spent two days about the North Pole. +After the first thrills of victory, the glamor wore away +as we rested and worked. Although I tried to do so, I +could get no sensation of novelty as we pitched our last +belongings on the sleds. The intoxication of success +had gone. I suppose intense emotions are invariably +followed by reactions. Hungry, mentally and physically +exhausted, a sense of the utter uselessness of this +thing, of the empty reward of my endurance, followed +my exhilaration. I had grasped my <i>ignus fatuus</i>. It is +a misfortune for any man when his <i>ignus fatuus</i> fails +to elude him.</p> + +<p>During those last hours I asked myself why this +place had so aroused an enthusiasm long-lasting through +self-sacrificing years; why, for so many centuries, men +had sought this elusive spot? What a futile thing, I +thought, to die for! How tragically useless all those +heroic efforts—efforts, in themselves, a travesty, an +ironic satire, on much vainglorious human aspiration and +endeavor! I thought of the enthusiasm of the people who +read of the spectacular efforts of men to reach this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> +vacant silver-shining goal of death. I thought, too, in +that hour, of the many men of science who were devoting +their lives to the study of germs, the making of toxins; +to the saving of men from the grip of disease—men who +often lost their own lives in their experiments; whose +world and work existed in unpicturesque laboratories, +and for whom the laudations of people never rise. It +occurred to me—and I felt the bitterness of tears in my +soul—that it is often the showy and futile deeds of men +which men praise; and that, after all, the only work +worth while, the only value of a human being's efforts, +lie in deeds whereby humanity benefits. Such work as +noble bands of women accomplish who go into the slums +of great cities, who nurse the sick, who teach the ignorant, +who engage in social service humbly, patiently, unexpectant +of any reward! Such work as does the scientist +who studies the depredations of malignant germs, +who straightens the body of the crippled child, who precipitates +a toxin which cleanses the blood of a frightful +and loathsome disease!</p> + +<p>As my eye sought the silver and purple desert about +me for some stable object upon which to fasten itself, I +experienced an abject abandon, an intolerable loneliness. +With my two companions I could not converse; in my +thoughts and emotions they could not share. I was +alone. I was victorious. But how desolate, how dreadful +was this victory! About us was no life, no spot to +relieve the monotony of frost. We were the only pulsating +creatures in a dead world of ice.</p> + +<p>A wild eagerness to get back to land seized me. It +seemed as though some new terror had arisen from the +icy waters. Something huge, something baneful ...<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> +invisible ... yet whose terror-inspiring, burning +eyes I felt ... the master genii of the goal, perhaps ... +some vague, terrible, disembodied spirit +force, condemned for some unimaginable sin to solitary +prisonment here at the top of the world, and who wove +its malignant, awful spell, and had lured men on for centuries +to their destruction.... The desolation of +the place was such that it was almost palpable; it was a +thing I felt I must touch and see. My companions +felt the heavy load of it upon them, and from the few +words I overheard I knew they were eagerly picturing +to themselves the simple joys of existence at Etah and +Annoatok. I remember that to me came pictures of my +Long Island home. All this arose, naturally enough, +from the reaction following the strain of striving so long +and so fiercely after the goal, combined with the sense of +the great and actual peril of our situation. But what a +cheerless spot this was, to have aroused the ambition of +man for so many ages!</p> + +<p>There came forcibly, too, the thought that although +the Pole was discovered, it was not essentially discovered, +that it could be discovered, in the eyes of the +world, unless we could return to civilization and tell +what we had done. Should we be lost in these wastes or +should we be frozen to death, or buried in the snow, or +drowned in a crevasse, it would never be known that we +had been here. It was, therefore, as vitally necessary to +get back in touch with human life, with our report, as it +had been to get to the Pole.</p> + +<p>Before leaving, I enclosed a note, written on the +previous day, in a metallic tube. This I buried in the +surface of the Polar snows. I knew, of course, that this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> +would not remain long at the spot, as the ice was in the +grip of a slow-drifting movement. I felt the possibility +of this slow movement was more important than if it +remained stationary; for, if ever found in the south, the +destination of the tube would indicate the ice drift from +the Pole. The following is an exact copy of the +original note, which is reproduced photographically on +another page:</p> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<h4>COPY OF NOTE IN TUBE.</h4> + +<p class="center">April 21—at the North Pole.</p> + +<p>Accompanied by the Eskimo boys Ah-we-lah and E-tuk-i-shuk I +reached at noon to-day 90° N. a spot on the polar sea 520 miles north of +Svartevoeg. We were 35 days en route. Hope to return to-morrow on a +line slightly west of the northward track.</p> + +<p>New land was discovered along the 102 M. between 84 and 85. The +ice proved fairly good, with few open leads, hard snow and little pressure +trouble. We are in good health, and have food for forty days. This, with +the meat of the dogs to be sacrificed, will keep us alive for fifty or sixty +days.</p> + +<p>This note is deposited with a small American flag in a metallic tube +on the drifting ice.</p> + +<p>Its return will be appreciated, to the International Bureau of Polar +Research at the Royal Observatory, Uccle, Belgium.</p> + +<p class="ralign">(Signed) FREDERICK A. COOK.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 1024px;"> +<img src="images/illo_353.jpg" width="1024" height="529" alt="POLAR ADVANCE OF THE NATIONAL STANDARDS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">POLAR ADVANCE OF THE NATIONAL STANDARDS<br /> +Climax of four centuries of Arctic exploration—Stars and Stripes at the Pole.</span> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="THE_RETURN_A_BATTLE_FOR_LIFE" id="THE_RETURN_A_BATTLE_FOR_LIFE"></a>THE RETURN—A BATTLE FOR LIFE +AGAINST FAMINE AND FROST</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">TURNED BACKS TO THE POLE AND TO THE SUN—THE DOGS, +SEEMINGLY GLAD AND SEEMINGLY SENSIBLE THAT +THEIR NOSES WERE POINTED HOMEWARD, BARKED +SHRILLY—SUFFERING FROM INTENSE DEPRESSION—THE +DANGERS OF MOVING ICE, OF STORMS AND SLOW +STARVATION—THE THOUGHT OF FIVE HUNDRED AND +TWENTY MILES TO LAND CAUSES DESPAIR</p> + +<h3>XXI<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">Southward Over the Mid-Polar Sea</span></h3> + + +<p>With few glances backward, we continued the +homeward run in haste, crossing many new crevasses +and bound on a course along the one hundredth meridian.</p> + +<p>The eagerness to solve the mystery had served its +purpose. The memory of the adventure for a time remained +as a reminder of reckless daring. As we now +moved along, there came more and more strongly the +realization of the prospective difficulties of the return. +Although the mercury was still frozen and the sun's +perpetual flush was lost in a frigid blue, the time was +at hand in lower latitudes for the ice to break and drift +southward.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span></p> + +<p>With correct reasoning, all former expeditions had +planned to return to land and a secure line of retreat +by May 1. We could not hope to do this until early +in June. It seemed probable, therefore, that the ice +along the outskirts of the Polar sea would be much disrupted +and that open water, small ice and rapid drifts +would seriously interfere with our return to a sure footing +on the shores of Fridtjof Nansen Sound. This and +many other possible dangers had been carefully considered +before, but the conquest of the Pole was not +possible without such risks.</p> + +<p>We had started earlier than all other Polar expeditions +and no time had been lost en route. If misfortune +came to us, it could not be because of wasted energies +or unnecessary delay. In the last days of the onward +rush to success there had been neither time nor opportunity +to ponder over future dangers, but now, facing +the southern skies, under which lay home and all for +which we lived, the back trail seemed indescribably long. +In cold, sober thought, freed of the intoxication of +Polar enthusiasm, the difficulties increasingly darkened +in color. We clearly saw that the crucial stage of the +campaign was not the taking of the Pole. The test of +our fitness as boreal conquerors was to be measured by +the outcome of a final battle for life against famine and +frost.</p> + +<p>Figuring out the difficulties and possibilities of +our return, I came to the conclusion that to endeavor +to get back by our upward trail would not afford great +advantage. Much time would be lost seeking the trail. +The almost continuous low drift of snow during some +part of nearly every day would obliterate our tracks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> +and render the trail useless as a beaten track in making +travel easier. The advantage of previously constructed +snow houses as camps did not appeal to us.</p> + +<p>After one is accustomed to a new, clean, bright +dome of snow every night, as we were, the return to such +a camp is gloomy and depressing. The house is almost +invariably left in such a shape that, for hygienic reasons +alone, it should not be occupied. Furthermore, the influence +of sun and storm absolutely destroys in a few +days two out of three of all such shelter places. Moreover, +we were now camping in our silk tent and did not +require other shelter. At the season of the year in +which we were traveling, the activity of the pack farther +south made back-tracking impossible, because of irregular +lateral drift of individual fields. And to me the +most important reason was an eager desire to ascertain +what might be discovered on a new trail farther west. +It was this eagerness which led to our being carried +adrift and held prisoners for a year.</p> + +<p>The first days, however, passed rapidly. The ice +fields became smoother. On April 24 we crossed five +crevasses. With fair weather and favorable ice, long +marches were made. On the 24th we made sixteen +miles, on the 25th fifteen miles, on the 26th, 27th and +28th, fourteen miles a day. The fire of the homing +sentiment began to dispel our overbearing fatigue. The +dogs sniffed the air. The Eskimos sang songs of the +chase. To me also there came cheering thoughts of +friends and loved ones to be greeted. I thought of delightful +dinners, of soul-stirring music. For all of us, +the good speed of the return chase brought a mental +atmosphere of dreams of the pleasures of another world.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> +For a time we were blinded to ultimate dangers, just as +we had been in the northward dash.</p> + +<p>In our return along the one hundredth meridian, +there were three important objects to be gained by a +route somewhat west of the northward march. The increasing +easterly drift would thus be counterbalanced. +We hoped to get near enough to the new lands to explore +a part of the coast. And a wider belt would be +swept out of the unknown area. On April 30 the pedometer +registered one hundred and twenty-one miles, and +by our system of dead reckoning, which was usually correct, +we should have been at latitude 87°, 59ʹ, longitude +100°. The nautical observations gave latitude +88°, 1ʹ, longitude 97°, 42ʹ. We were drifting eastward, +therefore, with increasing speed. To counterbalance +our being moved by this drift, we turned and bounded +southward in a more westerly course.</p> + +<p>The never-changing sameness of the daily routine +was again felt. The novelty of success and the passion +of the run for the goal were no longer operative. The +scenes of shivering blue wearied the eye, and there was +no inspiration in the moving sea of ice to gladden the +heart. The thermometer rose and fell between 30 and +40° below zero, Fahrenheit, with a ceaseless wind. The +first of May was at hand, bringing to mind the blossoms +and smiles of a kindly world. But here all nature was +narrowed to lines of ice.</p> + +<p>May 1 came with increasing color in the sunbursts, +but without cheer. The splendor of terrestrial fire was +a cheat. Over the horizon, mirages displayed celestial +hysterics. The sun circled the skies in lines of glory, +but its heat was a sham, its light a torment. The ice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> +was heavy and smooth. On May 2, clouds obscured +the sky, fog fell heavily over the ice, we struck our +course with difficulty but made nineteen miles. On +May 3 snow fell, but the end of the march brought +clear skies, and, with them, the longing for my land of +blossoming cherry and apple trees.</p> + +<p>With weary nerves, and with compass in hand, my +lonely march ahead of the sledges continued day by +day. Progress was satisfactory. We had passed the +eighty-ninth and eighty-eighth parallels. The eighty-seventh +and the eighty-sixth would soon be under foot, +and the sight of the new lands should give encouragement. +These hard-fought times were days long to be +remembered. The lack of cerebral stimulation and nutrition +left no cellular resource to aid the memory of +those fateful hours of chill.</p> + +<p>The long strain of the march had established a +brotherly sympathy amongst the trio of human strugglers. +The dogs, though still possessing the savage ferocity +of the wolf, had taken us into their community. +We now moved among them without hearing a grunt +of discord, and their sympathetic eyes followed until we +were made comfortable on the cheerless snows. If they +happened to be placed near enough, they edged up and +encircled us, giving the benefit of their animal heat. To +remind us of their presence, frost-covered noses were +frequently pushed under the sleeping bag, and occasionally +a cold snout touched our warm skin with a rude +awakening.</p> + +<p>We loved the creatures, and admired their superb +brute strength. Their superhuman adaptability was +a frequent topic of conversation. With a pelt that was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> +a guarantee against all weather condition, they threw +themselves down to the sweep of winds, in open defiance +of death-dealing storms. Eating but a pound of pemmican +a day, and demanding neither water nor shelter, +they willingly did a prodigious amount of work and +then, as bed-fellows, daily offered their fur as shelter and +their bones as head-rests to their two-footed companions. +We had learned to appreciate the advantage of their +beating breasts. The bond of animal fellowship had +drawn tighter and tighter in a long run of successive +adventures. And now there was a stronger reason than +ever to appreciate power, for together we were seeking +an escape from a world which was never intended for +creatures with pulsating hearts.</p> + +<p>Much very heavy ice was crossed near the eighty-eighth +parallel, but the endless unbroken fields of the +northward trails were not again seen. Now the weather +changed considerably. The light, cutting winds from +the west increased in force, and the spasmodic squalls +came at shorter intervals. The clear purples and blues +of the skies gradually gave place to an ugly hue of gray. +A rush of frosty needles came over the pack for several +hours each day.</p> + +<p>The inducement to seek shelter in cemented walls +of snow and to wait for better weather was very great. +But such delay would mean certain starvation. Under +fair conditions, there was barely food enough to reach +land, and even short delays might seriously jeopardize +our return. We could not, therefore, do otherwise than +force ourselves against the wind and drift with all possible +speed, paying no heed to unavoidable suffering. +As there was no alternative, we tried to persuade our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>selves +that existing conditions might be worse than they +were.</p> + +<p>The hard work of igloo building was now a thing +of the past—only one had been built since leaving the +Pole, and in this a precious day was lost, while the atmospheric +fury changed the face of the endless expanse +of desolation. The little silk tent protected us sufficiently +from the icy airs. There were still 50° of frost, +but, with hardened skins and insensible nerve filaments, +the torture was not so keenly felt. Our steady diet of +pemmican, tea and biscuits was not entirely satisfactory. +We longed for enough to give a real filling sense, but +the daily ration had to be slightly reduced rather than +increased. The change in life from winter to summer, +which should take place at about this time of the year, +was, in our case, marked only by a change in shelter, +from the snow house to the tent, and our beds were +moved from the soft snow shelf of the igloo to the hard, +wind-swept crust.</p> + +<p>In my watches to get a peep of the sun at just the +right moment, I was kept awake during much of the +resting period. For pastime, my eyes wandered from +snorting dogs to snoring men. During one of these +idle moments there came a solution of the utility of the +dog's tail, a topic with which I had been at play for +several days. It is quoted here at the risk of censure, +because it is a typical phase of our lives which cannot +be illustrated otherwise. Seeming trivialities were seized +upon as food for thought. Why, I asked, has the dog a +tail at all? The bear, the musk ox, the caribou and the +hare, each in its own way, succeeds very well with but +a dwarfed stub. Why does nature, in the dog, expend<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> +its best effort in growing the finest fur over a seemingly +useless line of tail bones? The thing is distinctive, and +one could hardly conceive of the creature without the +accessory, but nature in the Arctic does not often waste +energy to display beauties and temperament. This tail +must have an important use; otherwise it would soon +fall under the knife of frost and time. Yes! It was +imported into the Arctic by the wolf progenitor of the +dog from warmer lands, where its swing served a useful +purpose in fly time. A nose made to breathe warm air +requires some protection in the far north and the dog +supplied the need with his tail. At the time when I +made this discovery a cold wind, charged with cutting +crystal, was brushing the pack. Each dog had his back +arched to the wind and his face veiled with an effective +curl of his tail. Thus each was comfortably shielded +from icy torment by an appendage adapted to that +very purpose.</p> + +<p>In the long tread over snowy wastes new lessons +in human mechanism aroused attention. At first the +effort to find a workable way over the troublesome pack +surface had kept mind and body keyed to an exciting +pitch, but slowly this had changed. By a kind of unconscious +intuition, the eye now found easy routes, the +lower leg mechanically traveled over yards and miles +and degrees without even consulting the brain, while the +leg trunk, in the effort to conserve energy, was left in +repose at periods during miles of travel, thus saving +much of the exertion of walking.</p> + +<p>The muscles, thus schooled to work automatically, +left the mind free to work and play. The maddening +monotone of our routine, together with the expenditure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> +of every available strain of force, had left the head +dizzy with emptiness. Something must be done to lift +the soul out of the boreal bleach.</p> + +<p>The power of the mind over the horse-power of the +body was here shown at its best. The flesh proved loyal +to the gray matter only while mental entertainment was +encouraged. Thus aching muscles were persuaded to +do double duty without sending up a cry of tired feeling. +The play of the mind with topics of its own choosing +is an advantage worth seeking at all times. But, to us, +it multiplied vital force and increased greatly the daily +advance. Science, art and poetry were the heights to +which the wings of thought soared. Beginning with the +diversion of making curious speculations on subjects +such as that of the use of the dog's tail and the Arctic +law of animal coloring, the first period of this mental +exercise closed with my staging a drama of the comedies +and tragedies of the Eskimos.</p> + +<p>In the effort to frame sentiment in measured lines, +a weird list of topics occupied my strained fancy. In +more agreeable moods I always found pleasure in imagining +a picture of the Polar sunrise, that budding period +of life when all Nature awakens after its winter sleep. +It was not difficult to start E-tuk-i-shook and Ah-we-lah +on similar flights of fancy. A mere suggestion +would keep up a flow of agreeable thought for several +days.</p> + +<p>By such forced mental stimuli the centers of fatigue +were deluded into insensibility. The eighty-seventh +parallel was crossed, the eighty-sixth was neared, but +there came a time when both mind and body wearied of +the whole problem of forced resolution.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span></p> + +<p>On May 6 we were stopped at six in the morning by +the approach of an unusual gale. The wind had been +steady and strong all night, but we did not heed its +threatening increase of force until too late. It came +from the west, as usual, driving coarse snow with needle +points. The ice about was old and hummocky, offering +a difficult line of march, but some shelter. In the strongest +blasts we threw ourselves over the sled behind hummocks +and gathered new breath to force a few miles +more.</p> + +<p>Finally, when no longer able to force the dogs +through the blinding drift we sought the lee of an unlifted +block of ice. Here suitable snow was found for a +snow house. A few blocks were cut and set, but the wind +swept them away as if they were chips. The tent was +tried, but it could not be made to stand in the rush of +the roaring tumult. In sheer despair we crept into the +tent without erecting the pole. Creeping into bags, we +then allowed the flapping silk to be buried by the drifting +snow. Soon the noise and discomfort of the storm +were lost and we enjoyed the comfort of an icy grave. +An efficient breathing hole was kept open, and the wind +was strong enough to sweep off the weight of a dangerous +drift. A new lesson was thus learned in fighting +the battle of life, and it was afterwards useful.</p> + +<p>Several days of icy despair now followed one another +in rapid succession. The wind did not rise to the +full force of a storm, but it was too strong and too cold +to travel. The food supply was noticeably decreasing. +The daily advance was less. With such weather, starvation +seemed inevitable. Camp was moved nearly every +day, but ambition sank to the lowest ebb. To the atmos<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>pheric +unrest was added the instability of broken ice +and the depressing mystery of an unknown position. +For many days no observations had been possible. Our +location could only be guessed at.</p> + +<p>Through driving storms, with the wind wailing in +our ears and deafening us to the dismal howling of the +hungry dogs, we pushed forward in a daily maddening +struggle. The route before us was unknown. We were +in the fateful clutch of a drifting sea of ice. I could not +guess whither we were bound. At times I even lost hope +of reaching land. Our bodies were tired. Our legs +were numb. We were almost insensible to the mad +craving hunger of our stomachs. We were living on a +half ration of food, and daily becoming weaker.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>Sometimes I paused, overcome by an almost overwhelming +impulse to lie down and drift through sleep +into death. At these times, fortunately, thoughts of +home came thronging, with memories as tender as are +the memories of singing spring-time birds in winter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> +time. And, although the stimulating incentive of reaching +the Pole on going north was gone, now, having +accomplished the feat, there was always the thought that +unless I got home no one should ever learn of that superhuman +struggle, that final victory.</p> + +<p>Empty though it was, I had, as I had hoped, proved +myself to myself; I had justified the three centuries of +human effort: I had proven that finite human brain and +palpitating muscle can be victorious over a cruel and +death-dealing Nature. It was a testimony that it was +my duty to give the world of struggling, striving men, +and which, as a father, I hoped with pride to give to my +little children.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_365.jpg" width="640" height="433" alt="PTARMIGAN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">PTARMIGAN</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span></p> +<h2>BACK TO LIFE AND BACK TO LAND</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">THE RETURN—DELUDED BY DRIFT AND FOG—CARRIED +ASTRAY OVER AN UNSEEN DEEP—TRAVEL FOR +TWENTY DAYS IN A WORLD OF MISTS, WITH THE +TERROR OF DEATH—AWAKENED FROM SLEEP BY +A HEAVENLY SONG—THE FIRST BIRD—FOLLOWING +THE WINGED HARBINGER—WE REACH LAND—A +BLEAK, BARREN ISLAND POSSESSING THE CHARM OF +PARADISE—AFTER DAYS VERGING ON STARVATION, WE +ENJOY A FEAST OF UNCOOKED GAME</p> + +<h3>XXII<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">Southward Into the American Archipelago</span></h3> + + +<p>On May 24 the sky cleared long enough to permit +me to take a set of observations. I found we were on +the eighty-fourth parallel, near the ninety-seventh +meridian. The new land I had noted on my northward +journey was hidden by a low mist. The ice was much +crevassed, and drifted eastward. Many open spaces +of water were denoted in the west by patches of water +sky. The pack was sufficiently active to give us considerable +anxiety, although pressure lines and open +water did not at the time seriously impede our progress.</p> + +<p>Scarcely enough food remained on the sledges to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> +reach our caches unless we should average fifteen miles +a day. On the return from the Pole to this point we had +been able to make only twelve miles daily. Now our +strength, even under fair conditions, did not seem to be +equal to more than ten miles. The outlook was threatening, +and even dangerous, but the sight of the cleared +sky gave new courage to E-tuk-i-shook and Ah-we-lah.</p> + +<p>Our best course was to get to Fridtjof Nansen +Sound as soon as possible. The new land westward was +invisible, and offered no food prospects. An attempted +exploration might cause a fatal delay.</p> + +<p>Still depending upon a steady easterly drift of the +pack, a course was set somewhat west of Svartevoeg, the +northern point of Axel Heiberg Land. In pressing onward, +light variable winds and thick fogs prevailed. +The ice changed rapidly to smaller fields as we advanced. +The temperature rose to zero, and the air really began +to be warm. Our chronic shivering disappeared. With +light sledges and endurable weather, we made fair progress +over the increasing pack irregularities.</p> + +<p>As we crossed the eighty-third parallel we found +ourselves to the west of a large lead, extending slightly +west of south. Immense quantities of broken and pulverized +ice lined the shores to a width of several miles. +The irregularities of this surface and the uncemented +break offered difficulties over which no force of man or +beast could move a sledge or boat. Compelled to follow +the line of least resistance, a southerly course was set +along the ice division. The wind now changed and came +from the east, but there was no relief from the heavy +banks of fog that surrounded us.</p> + +<p>The following days were days of desperation. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> +food for man and dog was reduced, and the difficulties +of ice travel increased dishearteningly. We traveled +twenty days, not knowing our position. A gray mystery +enshrouded us. Terror followed in our wake. Beneath +us the sea moved—whither it was carrying us I did not +know. That we were ourselves journeying toward an +illimitable, hopeless sea, where we should die of slow, +lingering starvation, I knew was a dreadful probability. +Every minute drew its pangs of despair and fear.</p> + +<p>The gray world of mist was silent. My companions +gazed at me with faces shriveled, thinned and hardened +as those of mummies. Their anguish was unspeakable. +My own vocal powers seemed to have left me. +Our dogs were still; with bowed heads, tails drooping, +they pulled the sledges dispiritedly. We seemed like +souls in torment, traveling in a world of the dead, condemned +to some Dantesque torture that should never +cease.</p> + +<p>After the mental torment of threatened starvation, +which prevented, despite the awful languor of my tortured +limbs, any sleep; after heart-breaking marches +and bitter hunger and unquenched thirst, the baffling +mist that had shut us from all knowledge at last cleared +away one morning. Our hearts bounded. I felt such +relief as a man buried alive must feel when, after struggling +in the stifling darkness, his grave is suddenly +opened. Land loomed to the west and south of us.</p> + +<p>Yet we found we had been hardly dealt with by +fate. Since leaving the eighty-fourth parallel, without +noticeable movement, we had been carried astray by the +ocean drift. We had moved with the entire mass that +covered the Polar waters. I took observations. They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> +gave latitude 79° 32ʹ, and longitude 101° 22ʹ. At last +I had discovered our whereabouts, and found that we +were far from where we ought to be. But our situation +was indeed nearly hopeless. The mere gaining a knowledge +of where we actually were, however, fanned again +the inextinguishable embers of hope.</p> + +<p>We were in Crown Prince Gustav Sea. To the +east were the low mountains and high valleys of Axel +Heiberg Land, along the farther side of which was our +prearranged line of retreat, with liberal caches of good +things and with big game everywhere. But we were +effectually barred from all this.</p> + +<p>Between us and the land lay fifty miles of small +crushed ice and impassable lines of open water. In hard-fought +efforts to cross these we were repulsed many +times. I knew that if by chance we should succeed in +crossing, there would still remain an unknown course of +eighty miles to the nearest cache, on the eastern coast of +Axel Heiberg Land.</p> + +<p>We had no good reason to expect any kind of subsistence +along the west coast of Axel Heiberg Land. +We had been on three-fourths rations for three weeks, +and there remained only half rations for another ten +days. Entirely aside from the natural barriers in the +way of returning eastward and northward, we were now +utterly unequal to the task, for we had not the food to +support us.</p> + +<p>The land to the south was nearer. Due south there +was a wide gap which we took to be Hassel Sound. On +each side there was a low ice-sheeted island, beyond the +larger islands which Sverdrup had named Ellef Ringnes +Land and Amund Ringnes Land. The ice southward<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> +was tolerably good and the drift was south-south-east.</p> + +<p>In the hope that some young seals might be seen +we moved into Hassel Sound toward the eastern island. +To satisfy our immediate pangs of hunger was our most +important mission.</p> + +<p>The march on June 14 was easy, with a bright +warm sun and a temperature but little under the freezing +point. In a known position, on good ice, and with +land rising before us, we were for a brief period happy +and strong, even with empty stomachs. The horizon was +eagerly sought for some color or form or movement to +indicate life. We were far enough south to expect bears +and seals, and expecting the usual luck of the hungry +savage, we sought diligently. Our souls reached forth +through our far-searching eyes. Our eyes pained with +the intense fixity of gazing, yet no animate thing appeared. +The world was vacant and dead. Our beating +hearts, indeed, seemed to be the only palpitating things +there.</p> + +<p>In the piercing rays of a high sun the tent was +erected, and in it, after eating only four ounces of pemmican +and drinking two cups of icy water, we sought +rest. The dogs, after a similar ration, but without +water, fell into an easy sleep. I regarded the poor creatures +with tenderness and pity. For more than a fortnight +they had not uttered a sound to disturb the frigid +silence. When a sled dog is silent and refuses to fight +with his neighbor, his spirit is very low. Finally I fell +asleep.</p> + +<p>At about six o'clock we were awakened by a strange +sound. Our surprised eyes turned from side to side. +Not a word was uttered. Another sound came—a series<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> +of soft, silvery notes—the song of a creature that might +have come from heaven. I listened with rapture. I +believed I was dreaming. The enchanting song continued—I +lay entranced. I could not believe this divine +thing was of our real world until the pole of our tent +gently quivered. Then, above us, I heard the flutter +of wings. It was a bird—a snow bunting trilling its +ethereal song—the first sound of life heard for many +months.</p> + +<p>We were back to life! Tears of joy rolled down +our emaciated faces. If I could tell you of the resurrection +of the soul which came with that first bird note, and +the new interest which it gave in our subsequent life, I +should feel myself capable of something superhuman in +powers of expression.</p> + +<p>With the song of that marvelous bird a choking +sense of homesickness came to all of us. We spoke no +word. The longing for home gripped our hearts.</p> + +<p>We were hungry, but no thought of killing this +little feathered creature came to us. It seemed as +divine as the bird that came of old to Noah in the ark. +Taking a few of our last bread crumbs, we went out to +give it food. The little chirping thing danced joyously +on the crisp snows, evidently as glad to see us as we +were to behold it. I watched it with fascination. At +last we were back to life! We felt renewed vigor. And +when the little bird finally rose into the air and flew +homeward, our spirits rose, our eyes followed it, and, as +though it were a token sent to us, we followed its winged +course landward with eager, bounding hearts.</p> + +<p>We were now on immovable ice attached to the +land. We directed our course uninterruptedly land<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span>ward, +for there was no thought of further rest or sleep +after the visit of the bird had so uplifted our hearts. Our +chances of getting meat would have been bettered by +following close to the open water, but the ice there was +such that no progress could be made. Furthermore, the +temptation quickly to set foot on land was too great to +resist. At the end of a hard march—the last few hours +of which were through deep snows—we mounted the ice +edge, and finally reached a little island—a bare spot of +real land. When my foot touched it, my heart sank. +We sat down, and the joy of the child in digging the +sand of the seashore was ours.</p> + +<p>I wonder if ever such a bleak spot, in a desert of +death, had so impressed men before as a perfect paradise. +In this barren heap of sand and clay, we were at +last free of the danger, the desolation, the sterility of that +soul-withering environment of a monotonously moving +world of ice and eternal frost.</p> + +<p>We fastened the dogs to a rock, and pitched the tent +on earth-soiled snows. In my joy I did not forget that +the Pole was ours, but, at that time, I was ready to offer +freely to others the future pleasures of its crystal environment +and all its glory. Our cup had been filled too +often with its bitters and too seldom with its sweets for +us to entertain further thirst for boreal conquest.</p> + +<p>And we also resolved to keep henceforth from the +wastes of the terrible Polar sea. In the future the position +of lands must govern our movements. For, along +a line of rocks, although we might suffer from hunger, +we should no longer be helpless chips on the ocean drift, +and if no other life should be seen, at least occasional +shrimps would gladden the heart.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_373.jpg" width="640" height="429" alt="WITH EAGER EYES WE SEARCHED THE DUSKY PLAINS OF CRYSTAL, BUT THERE WAS NO LAND, NO +LIFE, TO RELIEVE THE PURPLE RUN OF DEATH" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“WITH EAGER EYES WE SEARCHED THE DUSKY PLAINS OF CRYSTAL, BUT THERE WAS NO LAND, NO +LIFE, TO RELIEVE THE PURPLE RUN OF DEATH”</span> +</div> + +<p> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 553px;"> +<img src="images/illo_374.jpg" width="553" height="800" alt="RECORD LEFT IN BRASS TUBE AT NORTH POLE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">RECORD LEFT IN BRASS TUBE AT NORTH POLE</span> +</div> + +<p>We stepped about on the solid ground with a new +sense of security. But the land about was low, barren, +and shapeless. Its formation was triassic, similar to that +of most of Heiberg land, but in our immediate surroundings, +erosion by frost, the grind of ice sheets, and the +power of winds, had leveled projecting rocks and +cliffs. Part of its interior was blanketed with ice. +Its shore line had neither the relief of a colored +cliff nor a picturesque headland; there was not even a +wall of ice; there were only dull, uninteresting slopes of +sand and snow separating the frozen sea from the land-ice. +The most careful scrutiny gave no indication of a +living creature. The rocks were uncovered even with +black lichens. A less inviting spot of earth could not be +conceived, yet it aroused in us a deep sense of enthusiasm. +A strip of tropical splendor could not have +done more. The spring of man's passion is sprung by +contrast, not by degrees of glory.</p> + +<p>In camp, the joy of coming back to earth was +chilled by the agonizing call of the stomach. The +effervescent happiness could not dispel the pangs of +hunger. A disabled dog which had been unsuccessfully +nursed for several days was sacrificed on the altar of +hard luck, and the other dogs were thereupon given a +liberal feed, in which we shared. To our palates the +flesh of the dog was not distasteful, yet the dog had +been our companion for many months, and at the same +time that our conscienceless stomachs were calling for +more hot, blood-wet meat, a shivering sense of guilt came +over me. We had killed and were eating a living creature +which had been faithful to us.</p> + +<p>We were hard-looking men at this time. Our fur<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> +garments were worn through at the elbows and at the +knees. Ragged edges dangled in the winds. All the +boot soles were mere films, like paper with many holes. +Our stockings were in tatters. The bird-skin shirts had +been fed to the dogs, and strips of our sleeping bags +had day by day been added to the canine mess. It took +all our spare time now to mend clothing. Dressed in +rags, with ugly brown faces, seamed with many deep +wind-fissures, we had reached, in our appearance, the +extreme limit of degradation.</p> + +<p>At the Pole I had been thin, but now my skin was +contracted over bones offering only angular eminences +as a bodily outline. The Eskimos were as thin as myself. +My face was as black as theirs. They had risen +to higher mental levels, and I had descended to lower +animal depths. The long strain, the hard experiences, +had made us equals. We were, however, still in good +health and were capable of considerable hard work. It +was not alone the want of food which had shriveled our +bodies, for greater pangs of hunger were reserved for a +later run of misfortune. Up to this point persistent +overwork had been the most potent factor.</p> + +<p>As we passed out of Hassel Sound, the ice drifted +southward. Many new fractures were noted, and open +spaces of water appeared. Here was seen the track of +a rat—the first sign of a four-footed creature—and we +stopped to examine the tiny marks with great interest. +Next, some old bear tracks were detected. These simple +things had an intense fascination for us, coming as we +did out of a lifeless world; and, too, these signs showed +that the possibilities of food were at hand, and the +thought sharpened our senses into savage fierceness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p> + +<p>We continued our course southward, as we followed, +wolf-like, in the bear footprints. The sledges +bounded over the icy irregularities as they had not done +for months. Every crack in the ice was searched for +seals, and with the glasses we mounted hummock after +hummock to search the horizon for bears.</p> + +<p>We were not more than ten miles beyond land +when Ah-we-lah located an auspicious spot to leeward. +After a peep through the glasses he shouted. The dogs +understood. They raised their ears, and jumped to the +full length of their traces. We hurried eastward to deprive +the bear of our scent, but we soon learned that he +was as hungry as we were, for he made an air line for our +changed position. We were hunting the bear—the +bear was also hunting us.</p> + +<p>Getting behind a hummock, we awaited developments. +Bruin persistently neared, rising on his +haunches frequently so as the better to see E-tuk-i-shook, +who had arranged himself like a seal as a decoy. +When within a few hundred yards the dogs were freed. +They had been waiting like entrenched soldiers for a +chance to advance. In a few moments the gaunt creatures +encircled the puzzled bear. Almost without a +sound, they leaped at the great animal and sank their +fangs into his hind legs. Ah-we-lah fired. The bear +fell.</p> + +<p>Camp technique and the advantages of a fire were +not considered—the meat was swallowed raw, with +wolfish haste, and no cut of carefully roasted bullock +ever tasted better. It was to such grim hunger that we +had come.</p> + +<p>Then we slept, and after a long time our eyes re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span>opened +upon a world colored with new hope. The immediate +threat of famine was removed, and a day was +given over to filling up with food. Even after that, a +liberal supply of fresh meat rested on the sledge for +successive days of feasting. In the days which followed, +other bears, intent on examining our larder, came near +enough at times to enable us to keep up a liberal supply +of fresh meat.</p> + +<p>With the assurance of a food supply, a course was +set to enter Wellington Channel and push along to +Lancaster Sound, where I hoped a Scottish whaler could +be reached in July or August. In this way it seemed +possible to reach home shores during the current year. +If we should try to reach Annoatok I realized we should +in all probability be compelled to winter at Cape Sabine. +The ice to the eastward in Norwegian Bay offered difficulties +like those of Crown Prince Gustav Sea, and +altogether the easterly return to our base did not at this +time seem encouraging. The air-line distance to Smith +Sound and that to Lancaster Sound were about the +same, with the tremendous advantage of a straight +course—a direct drift—and fairly smooth ice to the +southward.</p> + +<p>This conclusion to push forward for Lancaster +Sound was reached on June 19. We were to the west +of North Cornwall Island, but a persistent local fog +gave only an occasional view of its icy upper slopes. The +west was clear, and King Christian Land appeared as +a low line of blue. About us the ice was small but free +of pressure troubles. Bear tracks were frequently seen as +we went along. The sea was bright. The air was delightfully +warm, with the thermometer at 10° above zero.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span></p> + +<p>At every stop, the panting dogs tumbled and rolled +playfully on the snows, and pushed their heated muzzles +deep into the white chill. If given time they would +quickly arrange a comfortable bed and stretch out, seemingly +lifeless, for a refreshing slumber. At the awakening +call of the lash, all were ready with a quick jump +and a daring snarl, but the need of a tight trace removed +their newly-acquired fighting propensity. They +had gained strength and spirit with remarkable rapidity. +Only two days before, they stumbled along with irregular +step, slack traces, and lowered tails, but the fill of +juicy bear's meat raised their bushy appendages to a +coil of pride—an advantage which counted for several +miles in a day's travel.</p> + +<p>The drift carried us into Penny Strait, midway between +Bathurst Land and Grinnell Peninsula. The +small islands along both shores tore up the ice and piled +it in huge uplifts. There was a tremendous pressure as +the floes were forced through narrow gorges. Only a +middle course was possible for us, with but a few miles' +travel to our credit for each day. But the southerly +movement of the groaning ice was rapid. A persistent +fog veiled the main coast on both sides, but off-lying +islands were seen and recognized often enough to note +the positions. At Dundas Island the drift was stopped, +and we sought the shores of Grinnell Peninsula. Advancing +eastward, close to land, the ice proved extremely +difficult. The weather, however, was delightful. Between +snowdrifts, purple and violet flowers rose over +warm beds of newly invigorated mosses—the first +flowers that we had seen for a long and weary time, and +the sight of them, with their blossoms and color, deeply<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> +thrilled me. From misty heights came the howl of the +white wolf. Everywhere were seen the traces of the fox +and the lemming. The eider-duck and the ivory gull +had entered our horizon.</p> + +<p>All nature smiled with the cheer of midsummer. +Here was an inspiring fairyland for which our hearts +had long yearned. In it there was music which the +long stiffened tympanums were slow in catching. The +land was an oasis of hardy verdure. The sea was a +shifting scene of frost and blue glitter. With the soul +freed from its icy fetters, the soft, sunny airs came in +bounds of gladness. In dreamy stillness we sought the +bosom of the frozen sea, and there heard the groan of +the pack which told of home shores. Drops of water +from melting snows put an end to thirst tortures. The +blow of the whales and the seals promised a luxury of +fire and fuel, while the low notes of the ducks prepared +the palate for dessert.</p> + +<p>As we neared a little moss-covered island in drifting +southward, we saw the interesting chick footprints +of ptarmigan in the snow. The dogs pointed their ears +and raised their noses, and we searched the clearing skies +with eye and ear for the sudden swoop of the boreal +chicken. I had developed a taste for this delicate fowl +as desperate as that of the darky for chicken, and +my conscience was sufficiently deadened by cold and +hunger to break into a roost by night or day to steal +anything that offered feathery delights for the palate.</p> + +<p>I was courting gastric desire, but the ptarmigan +was engaged in another kind of courtship. Two singing +capons were cooing notes of love to a shy chick, and they +suddenly decided that there was not room for two,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> +whereupon a battle ensued with a storm of wings and +much darting of bills. In this excitement they got into +an ice crevasse, where they might have become easy victims +without the use of ammunition. But, with empty +stomachs, there is also at times a heart-hunger, which +pleases a higher sense and closes the eye to gastric wants.</p> + +<p>Later in the same day, we saw at a great distance +what seemed like two men in motion. We hastened to +meet them with social anticipations. Now they seemed +tall—now mere dots on the horizon. I thought this due +to their movement over ice irregularities. But boreal +optics play havoc with the eye and the sense of perspective. +As we rose suddenly on a hummock, where +we had a clearer view, the objects rose on wings! They +were ravens which had been enlarged and reduced by +reflecting and refracting surfaces and a changing atmosphere, +in much the same manner as a curved mirror +makes a caricature of one's self. I laughed—bitterly. +Dazed, bewildered, there was nevertheless for me a joy +in seeing these living creatures, denizens of the land +toward which we were directed.</p> + +<p>The bears no longer sought our camp, but the seals +were conveniently scattered along our track. A kindly +world had spread our waistbands to fairly normal dimensions. +The palate began to exercise its discriminating +force. Ducks and land animals were sought with +greater eagerness. While in this mood, three white +caribou were secured. They were beautiful creatures, +and as pleasing to the palate as to the eye, but owing to +the very rough ice it was quite impossible to carry more +than a few days' supply. Usually we took only the +choice parts of the game, but every eatable morsel of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span> +caribou that we could carry was packed on the sledges.</p> + +<p>With this wealth of food and fuel we moved along +the shores of Wellington Channel to Pioneer Bay. We +felt that we were steadily on our way homeward. There +was no premonition of the keen disappointment that +awaited us, of the inevitable imprisonment for the long +Arctic winter and the days of starvation that were to +come.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_382.jpg" width="640" height="335" alt="PTARMIGAN CHICKS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">PTARMIGAN CHICKS</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="OVERLAND_TO_JONES_SOUND" id="OVERLAND_TO_JONES_SOUND"></a>OVERLAND TO JONES SOUND</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">HOURS OF ICY TORTURE—A FRIGID SUMMER STORM IN +THE BERG-DRIVEN ARCTIC SEA—A PERILOUS DASH +THROUGH TWISTING LANES OF OPEN WATER IN A +CANVAS CANOE—THE DRIVE OF HUNGER.</p> + +<h3>XXIII<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">Adrift on an Iceberg</span></h3> + + +<p>As we neared Pioneer Bay, along the coast of +North Devon, it became quite evident that farther advance +by sledge was quite impossible. A persistent +southerly wind had packed the channel with a jam of +small ice, over which the effort of sledging was a hopeless +task. The season was too far advanced to offer the +advantage of an ice-foot on the shore line. There was +no open water, nor any game to supply our larder. The +caribou was mostly used. We began to feel the craving +pain of short rations.</p> + +<p>Although the distance to Lancaster Sound was +short, land travel was impossible, and, with no food, we +could not await the drift of the ice. The uncertainty +of game was serious, with nothing as a reserve to await +the dubious coming of a ship. If game should appear, +we might remain on the ice, accumulating in the meantime +a supply of meat for travel by canvas boat later.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span></p> + +<p>This boat had been our hope in moving south, but +thus far had not been of service. Forced to subsist +mainly on birds, the ammunition rapidly diminished, and +something had to be done at once to prevent famine.</p> + +<p>We might have returned to the game haunts of +Grinnell Peninsula, but it seemed more prudent to cross +the land to Jones Sound. Here, from Sverdrup's experience, +we had reason to expect abundant game. By +moving eastward there would be afforded the alternative +of pushing northward if we failed to get to the +whalers. The temperature now remained steadily near +the freezing point, and with the first days of July the +barometer became unsteady.</p> + +<p>On the 4th of July we began the climb of the highlands +of North Devon, winding about Devonian cliffs +toward the land of promise beyond. The morning was +gray, as it had been for several days, but before noon +black clouds swept the snowy heights and poured icy +waters over us. We were saturated to the skin, and +shivered in the chill of the high altitude. Soon afterwards +a light breath-taking wind from the northwest +froze our pasty furs into sheets of ice. Still later, a +heavy fall of snow compelled us to camp. The snowstorm +continued for two days, and held us in a snow-buried +tent, with little food and no fuel.</p> + +<p>Although the storm occasioned a good deal of suffering, +it also brought some advantages. The land had +been imperfectly covered with snow, and we had been +forced to drive from bank to bank, over bared ground, +to find a workable course. But now all was well sheeted +with crusted snow. Soon the gaunt, dun-colored cliffs of +North Devon ended the monotony of interior snows,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> +and beyond was seen the cheering blue of Jones Sound.</p> + +<p>Much open water extended along the north shore +to beyond Musk Ox Fiord. The southern shores +were walled with pack-ice for a hundred miles or +more. In bright, cold weather we made a descent to +Eidsbotn on July 7th. Here a diligent search for food +failed. Daily the howl of wolves and the cry of birds +came as a response to our calling stomachs. A scant +supply of ducks was secured for the men with an expenditure +of some of the last rifle ammunition, but no walruses, +no seals, and no other big game were seen. To +secure dog food seemed quite hopeless.</p> + +<p>We now had the saddest incident of a long run of +trouble. Open water ran the range of vision, sledges +were no longer possible, game was scarce, our ammunition +was nearly exhausted. Our future fate had to be +worked out in a canvas boat. What were we to do with +the faithful dog survivors? In the little boat they could +not go with us. We could not stay with them and live. +We must part. Two had already left us to join their +wolf progenitors. We gave the others the same liberty. +One sledge was cut off and put into the canvas boat +which we had carried to the Pole and back. Our sleeping-bags +and old winter clothing were given as food to +the dogs. All else was snugly packed in waterproof +packages as well as possible, and placed in the boat. +With sad eyes, we left the shore. The dogs howled like +crying children; we still heard them when five miles off +shore.</p> + +<p>Off Cape Vera there was open water, and beyond, +as far eastward as we could see, its quivering surface +offered a restful prospect. As we advanced, however,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> +the weather proved treacherous, and the seas rose with +sudden and disagreeable thumps.</p> + +<p>At times we camped on ice islands in the pack, but +the pack-ice soon became too insecure, being composed +of small pieces, and weakened in spots by the sun. Even +a moderate gale would tear a pack apart, to be broken +into smaller fragments by the water. Sometimes we +made camp in the boat, with a box for a pillow and a +piece of bear skin for a cover.</p> + +<p>With great anxiety we pulled to reach the land at +Cape Sparbo before a storm entrapped us. To the +north, the water was free of ice as far as the shores of +Ellesmere Land, forty miles away. To avoid the glare +of the midday sun, we chose to travel by night, but we +were nearing the end of the season of Arctic double-days +and midnight suns, when the winds come suddenly +and often.</p> + +<p>Soon after midnight the wind from the Pacific +came in short puffs, with periods of calm so sudden that +we looked about each time for something to happen. At +about the same time there came long swells from the +northwest. We scented a storm, although at that time +there were no other signs. The ice was examined for a +possible line of retreat to the land, but, with pressure +ridges, hummocks and breaks, I knew this was impossible. +It was equally hopeless to camp on such treacherous +ice. Berg ice had been passed the day before, but +this was about as far behind as the land was ahead.</p> + +<p>So we pulled along desperately, while the swells +shortened and rose. The atmosphere became thick and +steel gray. The cliffs of Ellesmere Land faded, while +lively clouds tumbled from the highlands to the sea.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span></p> + +<p>We were left no alternative but to seek the shelter +of the disrupted pack, and press landward as best we +could. We had hardly landed on the ice, and drawn +our boat after us, when the wind struck us with such +force that we could hardly stand against it. The ice +immediately started in a westward direction, veering off +from the land a little and leaving open leads. These +leads, we now saw, were the only possible places of +safety. For, in them, the waters were easy, and the +wind was slightly shut off by the walls of pressure lines +and hummocks. Furthermore, they offered slants now +and then by which we could approach the land.</p> + +<p>The sledge was set under the boat and lashed. All +our things were lashed to the wooden frame of the canoe +to prevent the wind and the sea from carrying them +away. We crossed several small floes and jumped the +lines of water separating them, pulling sledge and canoe +after us. The pressure lines offered severe barriers. +To cross them we were compelled to separate the canoe +from its sledge and remove the baggage. All of this +required considerable time. A sense of hopelessness +filled my heart. In the meantime, the wind veered +to the east and came with a rush that left us helpless. +We sought the lee of a hummock, and hoped the violence +of the storm would soon spend itself, but there were no +easy spells in this storm, nor did it show signs of early +cessation. The ice about us moved rapidly westward +and slowly seaward.</p> + +<p>It was no longer possible to press toward the land, +for the leads of water were too wide and were lined with +small whitecaps, while the tossing seas hurled mountains +of ice and foaming water over the pack edge.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span></p> + +<p>The entire pack was rising and falling under faint +swells, and gradually wearing to little fragments. The +floe on which we stood was strong. I knew it would +hold out longer than most of the ice about, but it was +not high enough above water to give us a dry footing as +the seas advanced.</p> + +<p>From a distance to the windward we noted a low +iceberg slowly gaining on our floe. It was a welcome +sight, for it alone could raise us high enough above the +soul-despairing rush of the icy water.</p> + +<p>Its rich ultramarine blue promised ice of a sufficient +strength to withstand the battling of the storm. Never +were men on a sinking ship more anxious to reach a +rock than we were to reach this blue stage of ice. It +offered several little shelves, upon which we could rise +out of the water upon the ice. We watched with +anxious eyes as the berg revolved and forced the other +ice aside.</p> + +<p>It aimed almost directly for us, and would probably +cut our floe. We prepared for a quick leap upon +the deck of our prospective craft.</p> + +<p>Bearing down upon us it touched a neighboring +piece and pushed us away. We quickly pulled to the +other pan, and then found, to our dismay, a wide band +of mushy slush, as impossible to us for a footing as +quicksand would have been. As the berg passed, however, +it left a line of water behind it. We quickly threw +boat and sledge into this, paddled after the berg, and, +reaching it, leaped to its security. What a relief to be +raised above the crumbling pack-ice and to watch from +safety the thundering of the elements!</p> + +<p>The berg which we had boarded was square, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> +rounded corners. Its highest points were about twenty +feet above water; the general level was about ten feet. +The ice was about eighty feet thick, and its width was +about a hundred feet. These dimensions assured stability, +for if the thing had turned over, as bergs frequently +do, we should be left to seek breath among the +whales.</p> + +<p>It was an old remnant of a much larger berg which +had stood the Arctic tempest for many years. This we +figured out from the hard blue of the ice and its many +caverns and pinnacles. We were, therefore, on a secure +mass of crystal which was not likely to suffer +severely from a single storm. Its upper configuration, +however, though beautiful in its countless shades of blue, +did not offer a comfortable berth. There were three +pinnacles too slippery and too steep to climb, with a +slope leading by a gradual incline on each side. Along +these the seas had worn grooves leading to a central +concavity filled with water. The only space which we +could occupy was the crater-like rim around this lake. +At this time we had to endure only the seething pitch of +the sea and the cutting blast of the storm.</p> + +<p>The small ice about kept the seas from boarding. +To prevent our being thrown about on the slippery surface, +we cut holes into the pinnacles and spread lines +about them, to which we clung. The boat was securely +fastened in a similar way by cutting a makeshift for a +ringbolt in the floor of ice. Then we pushed from side +to side along the lines, to encourage our hearts and to +force our circulation. Although the temperature was +only at the freezing point, it was bitterly cold, and we +were in a bad way to weather a storm.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span></p> + +<p>The sea had drenched us from head to foot. Only +our shirts were dry. With hands tightly gripped to the +line and to crevasses, we received the spray of the breaking +icy seas while the berg ploughed the scattered pack +and plunged seaward. The cold, though only at the +freezing point, pierced our snow-pasted furs and +brought shivers worse than that of zero's lowest. Thus +the hours of physical torture and mental anguish passed, +while the berg moved towards the gloomy black cliff of +Hell Gate. Here the eastern sky bleached and the +south blued, but the falling temperature froze our garments +to coats of mail. We were still dressed in part +of our winter garments.</p> + +<p>The coat was of sealskin, with hood attached; the +shirt of camel's hair blanket, also with a hood; the trousers +of bear fur; boots of seal, with hair removed, and +stockings of hare fur. The mittens were of seal, and +there were pads of grass for the palms and soles. Our +garments, though not waterproof, shed water and excluded +the winds, but there is a cold that comes with wet +garments and strong winds that sets the teeth to chattering +and the skin to quivering.</p> + +<p>As all was snug and secure on the berg, we began to +take a greater interest in our wind and sea-propelled +craft. Its exposed surface was swept by the winds, +while its submarine surface was pushed by tides and +undercurrents, giving it a complex movement at variance +with the pack-ice. It ploughed up miles of sea-ice, +crushing and throwing it aside.</p> + +<p>After several hours of this kind of navigation—which +was easy for us, because the movement of the +swell and the breaking of the sea did not inflict a hard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span>ship—the +berg suddenly, without any apparent reason, +took a course at right angles to the wind, and deliberately +pushed out of the pack into the seething seas. +This rapid shift from comfort to the wild agitation of +the black waters made us gasp. The seas, with boulders +of ice, rolled up over our crest and into the concavity of +the berg, leaving no part safe. Seizing our axes, we +cut many other anchor holes in the ice, doubly secured +our life lines, and shifted with our boat to the edge of +the berg turned to the wind. The hours of suspense +and torment thus spent seemed as long as the winters of +the Eskimo. The pack soon became a mere pearly glow +against a dirty sky. We were rushing through a seething +blackness, made more impressive by the pearl and +blue of the berg and the white, ice-lined crests.</p> + +<p>What could we do to keep the springs of life from +snapping in such a world of despair? Fortunately, we +were kept too busy dodging the storm-driven missiles of +water and ice to ponder much over our fate. Otherwise +the mind could not have stood the infernal strain.</p> + +<p>Our bronze skins were adapted to cold and winds, +but the torture of the cold, drenching water was new. +For five months we had been battered by winds and cut +by frosts, but water was secured only by melting ice with +precious fuel which we had carried thousands of miles. +If we could get enough of the costly liquid to wash our +cold meals down, we had been satisfied. The luxury of +a face wash or a bath, except by the wind-driven snows, +was never indulged in. Now, in stress of danger, we +were getting it from every direction. The torments of +frost about the Pole were nothing compared to this boiling +blackness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span></p> + +<p>Twenty-four hours elapsed before there was any +change. Such calls of nature as hunger or thirst or +sleep were left unanswered. We maintained a terrific +struggle to keep from being washed into the sea. At +last the east paled, the south became blue, and the land +on both sides rose in sight. The wind came steadily, but +reduced in force, with a frosty edge that hardened our +garments to sheets of ice.</p> + +<p>We were not far from the twin channels, Cardigan +Strait and Hell Gate, where the waters of the Pacific +and Atlantic meet. We were driving for Cardigan +Strait, past the fiords into which we had descended from +the western seas two weeks before. We had, therefore, +lost an advance of two weeks in one day, and we had +probably lost our race with time to reach the life-saving +haunts of the Eskimo.</p> + +<p>Still, this line of thought was foreign to us. Not +far away were bold cliffs from which birds descended to +the rushing waters. At the sight my heart rose. Here +we saw the satisfying prospect of an easy breakfast if +only the waves would cease to fold in white crests. +Long trains of heavy ice were rushing with railroad +speed out of the straits. As we watched, the temperature +continued to fall. Soon the north blackened with +swirling curls of smoke. The wind came with the sound +of exploding guns from Hell Gate. What, I asked +myself, was to be our fate now?</p> + +<p>We took a southwest course. Freezing seas washed +over the berg and froze our numbed feet to the ice, upon +which a footing otherwise would have been very difficult. +Adrift in a vast, ice-driven, storm-thundering ocean, I +stood silent, paralyzed with terror. After a few hours,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> +sentinel floes of the pack slowly shoved toward us, and +unresistingly, we were ushered into the harboring influence +of the heavy Polar ice.</p> + +<p>The berg lost its erratic movement, and soon settled +in a fixed position. The wind continued to tear along in +a mad rage, but we found shelter in our canoe, dozing +away for a few moments while one paced the ice as a +sentinel. Slowly a lane of quiet water appeared among +the floes. We heard a strangely familiar sound which +set our hearts throbbing. The walrus and the seal, one +by one, came up to the surface to blow. Here, right before +us, was big game, with plenty of meat and fat. We +were starving, but we gazed almost helplessly on +plenty, for its capture was difficult for us.</p> + +<p>We had only a few cartridges and four cans of pemmican +in our baggage. These were reserved for use to +satisfy the last pangs of famine. That time had not yet +arrived. Made desperate by hunger, after a brief rest +we began to seek food. Birds flying from the land became +our game at this time. We could secure these with +the slingshot made by the Eskimos, and later, by entangling +loops in lines, and in various other ways which +hunger taught us.</p> + +<p>A gull lighted on a pinnacle of our berg. Quietly +but quickly we placed a bait and set a looped line. We +watched with bated breath. The bird peered about, +espied the luring bait, descended with a flutter of wings, +pecked the pemmican. There was a snapping sound—the +bird was ours. Leaping upon it, we rapidly cut it +in bits and ravenously devoured it raw. Few things I +have ever eaten tasted so delicious as this meat, which +had the flavor of cod-liver oil.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span></p> + +<p>The ice soon jammed in a grinding pack against +the land, and the wind spent its force in vain. We held +our position, and two of us, after eating the bird, slept +until the sentinel called us. At midnight the wind eased +and the ice started its usual rebound, seaward and eastward, +with the tide.</p> + +<p>This was our moment for escape. We were about +ten miles off the shore of Cape Vera. If we could push +our canvas canoe through the channels of water as they +opened, we might reach land. We quickly prepared the +boat. With trepidation we pushed it into the black, +frigid waters. We hesitated to leave the sheltering berg +which had saved our lives. Still, it had served its purpose. +To remain might mean our being carried out to +sea. The ultimate time had come to seek a more secure +refuge on <i>terra firma</i>.</p> + +<p>Leaping into the frail, rocking canoe, we pushed +along desperately through a few long channels to reach +a wide, open space of water landward. Paddling frantically, +we made a twisting course through opening lanes +of water, ice on both sides of us, visible bergs bearing +down at times on us, invisible bergs with spear-points of +ice beneath the water in which our course lay. We sped +forward at times with quick darts. Suddenly, and to +our horror, an invisible piece of ice jagged a hole in the +port quarter. Water gushed into the frail craft. In a +few minutes it would be filled; we should sink to an icy +death! Fortunately, I saw a floe was near, and while +the canoe rapidly filled we pushed for the floe, reaching +it not a moment too soon.</p> + +<p>A boot was sacrificed to mend the canoe. Patching +the cut, we put again into the sea and proceeded.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span></p> + +<p>The middle pack of ice was separated from the land +pack, leaving much free water. But now a land breeze +sprang up and gave us new troubles. We could not +face the wind and sea, so we took a slant and sought the +lee of the pans coming from the land.</p> + +<p>Our little overloaded canoe weathered the seas very +well, and we had nothing to gain and everything to lose +by turning back. Again we were drenched with spray, +and the canoe was sheeted with ice above water. The +sun was passing over Hell Gate. Long blue shadows +stretched over the pearl-gray sea. By these, without +resort to the compass, we knew it was about midnight.</p> + +<p>As we neared the land-ice, birds became numerous. +The waters rose in easy swells. Still nearer, we noted +that the entire body of land-ice was drifting away. A +convenient channel opened and gave us a chance to slip +behind. We pointed for Cape Vera, dashed over the +water, and soon, to our joy, landed on a ledge of lower +rocks. I cannot describe the relief I felt in reaching +land after the spells of anguish through which we had +passed. Although these barren rocks offered neither +food nor shelter, still we were as happy as if a sentence +of death had been remitted.</p> + +<p>Not far away were pools of ice water. These we +sought first, to quench our thirst. Then we scattered +about, our eyes eagerly scrutinizing the land for breakfast. +Soon we saw a hare bounding over the rocks. As +it paused, cocking its ears, one of my boys secured it with +a sling-shot. It was succulent; we cut it with our +knives. Some moss was found among the rocks. This +was a breakfast for a king. I returned to prepare it. +With the moss as fuel, we made a fire, put the dripping<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> +meat in a pot, and, with gloating eyes, watched it simmering. +I thrilled with the joy of sheer living, with +hunger about to be satisfied by cooked food.</p> + +<p>Before the hare was ready the boys came along with +two eider-ducks, which they had secured by looped lines. +We therefore had now an advance dinner, with a refreshing +drink and a stomach full, and solid rocks to +place our heads upon for a long sleep. These solid +rocks were more delightful and secure than pillows of +down. The world had indeed a new aspect for us. In +reality, however, our ultimate prospect of escape from +famine was darker than ever.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 522px;"> +<img src="images/illo_396.jpg" width="522" height="480" alt="ARCTIC HARE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">ARCTIC HARE</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="UNDER_THE_WHIP_OF_FAMINE" id="UNDER_THE_WHIP_OF_FAMINE"></a>UNDER THE WHIP OF FAMINE</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">BY BOAT AND SLEDGE, OVER THE DRIFTING ICE AND STORMY +SEAS OF JONES SOUND—FROM ROCK TO ROCK IN +QUEST OF FOOD—MAKING NEW WEAPONS</p> + +<h3>XXIV<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">Imprisoned by the Hand of Frost</span></h3> + + +<p>No time was lost in our onward course. Endeavoring +at once to regain the distance lost by the drifting +berg, we sought a way along the shores. Here, over ice +with pools of water and slush, we dragged our sledge +with the canvas boat ever ready to launch. Frequent +spaces of water necessitated constant ferrying. We +found, however, that most open places could be crossed +with sledge attached to the boat. This saved much time.</p> + +<p>We advanced from ten to fifteen miles daily, pitching +the tent on land or sleeping in the boat in pools of +ice water, as the conditions warranted. The land rose +with vertical cliffs two thousand feet high, and offered +no life except a few gulls and guillemots. By gathering +these as we went along, a scant hand-to-mouth subsistence +daily was obtained.</p> + +<p>Early in August we reached the end of the land-pack, +about twenty-five miles east of Cape Sparbo. Beyond +was a water sky, and to the north the sea was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> +entirely free of ice. The weather was clear, and our +ambitions for the freedom of the deep rose again.</p> + +<p>At the end of the last day of sledge travel, a camp +was made on a small island. Here we saw the first +signs of Eskimo habitation. Old tent circles, also stone +and fox traps in abundance, indicated an ancient village +of considerable size. On the mainland we discovered +abundant grass and moss, with signs of musk ox, ptarmigan, +and hare, but no living thing was detected. +After a careful search, the sledge was taken apart to +serve as a floor for the boat. All our things were snugly +packed. For breakfast, we had but one gull, which was +divided without the tedious process of cooking.</p> + +<p>As we were packing the things onto the edge of the +ice, we espied an oogzuk seal. Here was a creature +which could satisfy for a while our many needs. Upon +it one of our last cartridges was expended. The seal +fell. The huge carcass was dragged ashore. All of its +skin was jealously taken. For this would make harpoon +lines which would enable the shaping of Eskimo implements, +to take the place of the rifles, which, with ammunition +exhausted, would be useless. Our boots could +also be patched with bits of the skin, and new soles +could be made. Of the immense amount of oogzuk meat +and blubber we were able to take only a small part; for, +with three men and our baggage and sledge in the little +canvas boat, it was already overloaded.</p> + +<p>The meat was cached, so that if ultimate want +forced our retreat we might here prolong our existence +a few weeks longer. There was little wind, and the +night was beautifully clear. The sun at night was very +close to the horizon, but the sparkle of the shimmering<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> +waters gave our dreary lives a bright side. On the +great unpolished rocks of the point east of Cape Sparbo +a suitable camping spot was found, a prolonged feed of +seal was indulged in, and with a warm sun and full +stomachs, the tent was unnecessary. Under one of the +rocks we found shelter, and slept with savage delight +for nine hours.</p> + +<p>Another search of the accessible land offered no +game except ducks and gulls far from shore. Here the +tides and currents were very strong, so our start had to +be timed with the outgoing tide.</p> + +<p>Starting late one afternoon, we advanced rapidly +beyond Cape Sparbo, in a sea with an uncomfortable +swell. But beyond the Cape, the land-ice still offered +an edge for a long distance. In making a cut across a +small bay to reach ice, a walrus suddenly came up behind +the canoe and drove a tusk through the canvas. +E-tuk-i-shook quickly covered the cut, while we pulled +with full force for a pan of drift-ice only a few yards +away. The boat, with its load, was quickly jerked on +the ice. Already there were three inches of water in +the floor. A chilly disaster was narrowly averted. Part +of a boot was sacrificed to mend the boat.</p> + +<p>While at work with the needle, a strong tidal current +carried us out to sea. An increasing wind brought +breaking waves over the edge of the ice. The wind fortunately +gave a landward push to the ice. A sledge-cover, +used as a sail, retarded our seaward drift. The +leak securely patched, we pushed off for the land ice. +With our eyes strained for breaking seas, the boat was +paddled along with considerable anxiety. Much water +was shipped in these dashes; constant bailing was neces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span>sary. +Pulling continuously along the ice for eight miles, +and when the leads closed at times, jumping on cakes +and pulling the boat after us, we were finally forced to +seek a shelter on the ice-field.</p> + +<p>With a strong wind and a wet fall of snow, the ice-camp +was far from comfortable. As the tide changed, +the wind came from the west with a heavy, choppy sea. +Further advance was impossible. Sleeping but a few +minutes at a time, and then rising to note coming dangers, +as does the seal, I perceived, to my growing dismay, +a separation between the land and the sea ice. We +were going rapidly adrift, with only interrupted spots +of sea-ice on the horizon!</p> + +<p>There were a good many reefs about, which quickly +broke the ice, and new leads formed on every side. The +boat was pushed landward. We pulled the boat on the +ice when the leads closed, lowering it again as the cracks +opened. By carrying the boat and its load from crack +to crack, we at last reached the land waters, in which we +were able to advance about five miles further, camping +on the gravel of the first river which we had seen. Here +we were storm-bound for two days.</p> + +<p>There were several pools near by. Within a short +distance from these were many ducks. With the slingshot +a few of these were secured. In the midst of our +trouble, with good appetites, we were feeding up for +future contests of strength.</p> + +<p>With a shore clear of ice, we could afford to take +some chance with heavy seas, so before the swell subsided, +we pushed off. Coming out of Braebugten Bay, +with its discharging glaciers and many reefs, the water +dashed against the perpendicular walls of ice, and pre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span>sented +a disheartening prospect. These reefs could be +passed over only when the sea was calm. With but a +half-day's run to our credit, we were again stopped.</p> + +<p>As we neared our objective point, on the fast ice +inside of a reef, we were greeted with the glad sight of +what we supposed to be a herd of musk ox. About +three miles of the winter ice was still fast to the land. +Upon this we landed, cleared the canvas boat, and prepared +to camp in it. I remained to guard our few belongings, +while the two Eskimo boys rushed over the ice +to try to secure the musk ox with the lance. It was a +critical time in our career, for we were putting to test +new methods of hunting, which we had partly devised +after many hungry days of preparation.</p> + +<p>I followed the boys with the glasses as they jumped +the ice crevasses and moved over the mainland with the +stealth and ease of hungry wolves. It was a beautiful +day. The sun was low in the northwest, throwing beams +of golden light that made the ice a scene of joy. The +great cliffs of North Devon, fifteen miles away, seemed +very near through the clear air. Although enjoying the +scene, I noted in the shadow of an iceberg a suspicious +blue spot, which moved in my direction. As it advanced +in the sunlight it changed from blue to a cream color. +Then I made it out to be a Polar bear which we had +attacked forty-eight hours previous.</p> + +<p>The sight aroused a feeling of elation. Gradually, +as bruin advanced and I began to think of some method +of defense, a cold shiver ran up my spine. The dog and +rifle, with which we had met bears before, were +absent. To run, and leave our last bit of food and fuel, +would have been as dangerous as to stay. A Polar bear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> +will always attack a retreating creature, while it approaches +very cautiously one that holds its position. +Furthermore, for some reason, the bears always bore a +grudge against the boat. None ever passed it without +testing the material with its teeth or giving it a slap with +its paw. At this critical stage of our adventure the boat +was linked more closely to our destiny than the clothes +we wore. I therefore decided to stay and play the rôle +of the aggressor, although I had nothing—not even a +lance—with which to fight.</p> + +<p>Then an idea flashed through my mind. I lashed a +knife to the steering paddle, and placed the boat on a +slight elevation of ice, so as to make it and myself +appear as formidable as possible. Then I gathered +about me all the bits of wood, pieces of ice, and everything +which I could throw at the creature before it came +to a close contest, reserving the knife and the ice-ax as +my last resort. When all was ready, I took my position +beside the boat and displayed a sledge-runner moving +rapidly to and fro.</p> + +<p>The bear was then about two hundred yards away. +It approached stealthily behind a line of hummocks, +with only its head occasionally visible. As it came to +within three hundred feet, it rose frequently on its hind +feet, dropped its forepaws, stretched its neck, and +pushed its head up, remaining motionless for several +seconds. It then appeared huge and beautiful.</p> + +<p>As it came still nearer, its pace quickened. I began +to hurl my missiles. Every time the bear was hit, it +stopped, turned about, and examined the object. But +none of them proving palatable, it advanced to the opposite +side of the boat, and for a moment stood and eyed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> +me. Its nose caught the odor of a piece of oogzuk +blubber a few feet beyond. I raised the sledge-runner +and brought it down with desperate force on the brute's +nose. It grunted, but quickly turned to retreat. I followed +until it was well on the run.</p> + +<p>Every time it turned to review the situation, I made +a show of chasing it. This always had the desired effect +of hastening its departure. It moved off, however, only +a short distance, and then sat down, sniffed the air, and +watched my movements. As I turned to observe the +boys' doings, I saw them only a short distance away, +edging upon the bear. Their group of musk oxen had +proved to be rocks, and they had early noted my troubles +and were hastening to enter the battle, creeping up behind +hummocks and pressure ridges. They got to +within a few yards of the brute, and then delivered their +two lances at once, with lines attached. The bear +dropped, but quickly recovered and ran for the land. +He died from the wounds, for a month later we found +his carcass on land, placed near camp.</p> + +<p>For two days, with a continuation of bad luck, +we advanced slowly. Belcher Point was passed at midnight +of the 7th of August, just as the sun sank under +the horizon for the first time. Beyond was a nameless +bay, in which numerous icebergs were stranded. The +bend of the bay was walled with great discharging glaciers. +A heavy sea pitched our boat like a leaf in a gale. +But, by seeking the shelter of bergs and passing inside +of the drift, we managed to push to an island for camp.</p> + +<p>With moving glaciers on the land, and the sea +storming and thundering, sleep was impossible. Icebergs +in great numbers followed us into the bay, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> +later the storm-ground sea-ice filled the bay. On +August 8, following a line of water along shore, we +started eastward.</p> + +<p>A strong wind on our backs, with quiet waters, sent +the little boat along at a swift pace. After a run of ten +miles, a great quantity of ice, coming from the east, filled +the bay with small fragments and ensnared us.</p> + +<p>Now the bay was jammed with a pack as difficult +to travel over as quicksand. We were hopelessly beset. +The land was sought, but it offered no shelter, no life, +and no place flat enough to lie upon. We expected that +the ice would break. It did not; instead, new winter +ice rapidly formed.</p> + +<p>The setting sun brought the winter storms and +premonitions of a long, bitter night. Meanwhile we +eked a meagre living by catching occasional birds, which +we devoured raw.</p> + +<p>Toward the end of August we pushed out on the +ensnaring pack to a small but solid floe. I counted on +this to drift somewhere—any place beyond the prison +bars of the glaciers. Then we might move east or west +to seek food. Our last meat was used, and we maintained +life only by an occasional gull or guillemot. This +floe drifted to and fro, and slowly took us to Belcher +Point, where we landed to determine our fate. To the +east, the entire horizon was lined with ice. Belcher Point +was barren of game and shelter. Further efforts for +Baffin's Bay were hopeless. The falling temperature, +the rapidly forming young ice, and the setting sun +showed us that we had already gone too long without +finding a winter refuge.</p> + +<p>Our only possible chance to escape death from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> +famine and frost was to go back to Cape Sparbo and +compel the walrus that ripped our boat to give up his +blubber, and then to seek our fortunes in the neighborhood. +This was the only reachable place that had looked +like game country. With empty stomachs, and on a +heavy sea, we pushed westward to seek our fate. The +outlook was discouraging.</p> + +<p>During all our enforced imprisonment we were +never allowed to forget that the first duty in life was to +provide for the stomach. Our muscles rested, but the +signals sent over the gastric nerve kept the gray matter +busy.</p> + +<p>We were near to the land where Franklin and his +men starved. They had ammunition. We had none. +A similar fate loomed before us. We had seen nothing +to promise subsistence for the winter, but this cheerless +prospect did not interfere with such preparations as we +could make for the ultimate struggle. In our desperate +straits we even planned to attack bears, should we find +any, without a gun. Life is never so sweet as when its +days seem numbered.</p> + +<p>The complete development of a new art of hunting, +with suitable weapons, was reserved for the dire +needs of later adventures. The problem was begun by +this time. By an oversight, most of our Eskimo implements +had been left on the returning sledges from +Svartevoeg.</p> + +<p>We were thus not only without ammunition, but +also without harpoons and lances. We fortunately had +the material of which these could be made, and the boys +possessed the savage genius to shape a new set of weapons. +The slingshot and the looped line, which had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span> +served such a useful purpose in securing birds, continued +to be of prime importance. In the sledge was excellent +hickory, which was utilized in various ways. Of this, +bows and arrows could be made. Combined with the +slingshot and the looped line snares, the combination +would make our warfare upon the feathered creatures +more effective. We counted upon a similar efficiency +with the same weapons in our hoped-for future attacks +upon land animals.</p> + +<p>The wood of the sledge was further divided to +make shafts for harpoons and lances. Realizing that +our ultimate return to Greenland, and to friends, depended +on the life of the sledge, the wood was used +sparingly. Furthermore, hickory lends itself to great +economy. It bends and twists, but seldom breaks in +such a manner that it cannot be repaired. We had not +much of this precious fibre, but enough for the time to +serve our purpose. Along shore we had found musk ox +horns and fragments of whale bone. Out of these the +points of both harpoon and lance were made. A part +of the sledge shoe was sacrificed to make metal points +for the weapons. The nails of the cooking-box served +as rivets. The seal skin, which we had secured a month +earlier, was now carefully divided and cut into suitable +harpoon and lassoo lines. We hoped to use this line to +capture the bear and the musk ox. Our folding canvas +boat was somewhat strengthened by the leather from +our old boots, and additional bracing by the ever useful +hickory of the sledge. Ready to engage in battle with +the smallest and the largest creatures that might come +within reach, we started west for Cape Sparbo. Death, +on our journey, never seemed so near.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 566px;"> +<img src="images/illo_407.jpg" width="566" height="800" alt="OBSERVATION DETERMINING THE POLE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">OBSERVATION DETERMINING THE POLE—PHOTOGRAPH FROM +ORIGINAL NOTE</span> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_408.jpg" width="640" height="429" alt="BACK TO LAND AND TO LIFE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">BACK TO LAND AND TO LIFE—AWAKENED BY A WINGED HARBINGER</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span></p> +<h2>BEAR FIGHTS AND WALRUS BATTLES</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">DANGEROUS ADVENTURES IN A CANVAS BOAT—ON THE +VERGE OF STARVATION, A MASSIVE BRUTE, WEIGHING +THREE THOUSAND POUNDS, IS CAPTURED AFTER A +FIFTEEN-HOUR STRUGGLE—ROBBED OF PRECIOUS +FOOD BY HUNGRY BEARS</p> + +<h3>XXV<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">Game Haunts Discovered</span></h3> + + +<p>The stormy sea rose with heavy swells. Oceanward, +the waves leaped against the horizon tumultuously. +Pursuing our vain search for food along the +southern side of Jones Sound, early in September, we +had been obliged to skirt rocky coves and shelves of land +on which we might seek shelter should harm come to the +fragile craft in which we braved the ocean storms and +the spears of unseen ice beneath water.</p> + +<p>We had shaped crude weapons. We were prepared +to attack game. We were starving; yet land and +sea had been barren of any living thing.</p> + +<p>Our situation was desperate. In our course it was +often necessary, as now, to paddle from the near refuge +of low-lying shores, and to pass precipitous cliffs and +leaping glaciers which stepped threateningly into the +sea. Along these were no projecting surfaces, and we +passed them always with bated anxiety. A sudden<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> +storm or a mishap at such a time would have meant +death in the frigid sea. And now, grim and suffering +with hunger, we clung madly to life.</p> + +<p>Passing a glacier which rose hundreds of feet out of +the green sea, heavy waves rolled furiously from the +distant ocean. Huge bergs rose and fell against the +far-away horizon like Titan ships hurled to destruction. +The waves dashed against the emerald walls of the +smooth icy Gibraltar with a thunderous noise. We rose +and fell in the frail canvas boat, butting the waves, our +hearts each time sinking.</p> + +<p>Suddenly something white and glittering pierced +the bottom of the boat! It was the tusk of a walrus, +gleaming and dangerous. Before we could grasp the +situation he had disappeared, and water gushed into our +craft. It was the first walrus we had seen for several +weeks. An impulse, mad under the circumstances, rose +in our hearts to give him chase. It was the instinctive +call of the hungering body for food. But each second +the water rose higher; each minute was imminent with +danger. Instinctively Ah-we-lah pressed to the floor of +the boat and jammed his knee into the hole, thus partly +shutting off the jetting, leaping inrush. He looked +mutely to me for orders. The glacier offered no stopping +place. Looking about with mad eagerness, I saw, +seaward, only a few hundred yards away, a small pan of +drift-ice. With the desire for life in our arms, we pushed +toward it with all our might. Before the boat was +pulled to its slippery landing, several inches of water +flooded the bottom. Once upon it, leaping in the waves, +we breathed with panting relief. With a piece of boot +the hole was patched. Although we should have pre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span>ferred +to wait to give the walrus a wide berth, the increasing +swell of the stormy sea, and a seaward drift +forced us away from the dangerous ice cliffs.</p> + +<p>Launching the boat into the rough waters, we +pulled for land. A triangle of four miles had to be +made before our fears could be set at rest. A school of +walrus followed us in the rocking waters for at least +half of the distance. Finally, upon the crest of a white-capped +wave, we were lifted to firm land. Drawing the +boat after us, we ran out of reach of the hungry waves, +and sank to the grass, desperate, despairing, utterly +fatigued, but safe.</p> + +<p>Now followed a long run of famine luck. We +searched land and sea for a bird or a fish. In the boat +we skirted a barren coast, sleeping on rocks without +shelter and quenching our thirst by glacial liquid till the +stomach collapsed. The indifferent stage of starvation +was at hand when we pulled into a nameless bay, carried +the boat on a grassy bench, and packed ourselves in it +for a sleep that might be our last.</p> + +<p>We were awakened by the glad sound of distant +walrus calls. Through the glasses, a group was located +far off shore, on the middle pack. Our hearts began to +thump. A stream of blood came with a rush to our +heads. Our bodies were fired with a life that had been +foreign to us for many moons. No famished wolf ever +responded to a call more rapidly than we did. Quickly +we dropped the boat into the water with the implements, +and pushed from the famine shores with teeth set for +red meat.</p> + +<p>The day was beautiful, and the sun from the west +poured a wealth of golden light. Only an occasional<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> +ripple disturbed the glassy blue through which the boat +crept. The pack was about five miles northward. In +our eagerness to reach it, the distance seemed spread to +leagues. There was not a square of ice for miles about +which could have been sought for refuge in case of an +attack. But this did not disturb us now. We were +blinded to everything except the dictates of our palates.</p> + +<p>As we advanced, our tactics were definitely arranged. +The animals were on a low pan, which seemed +to be loosely run into the main pack. We aimed for a +little cut of ice open to the leeward, where we hoped to +land and creep up behind hummocks. The splash of our +paddles was lost in the noise of the grinding ice and the +bellowing of walrus calls.</p> + +<p>So excited were the Eskimos that they could hardly +pull an oar. It was the first shout of the wilderness +which we had heard in many months. We were lean +enough to appreciate its import. The boat finally shot +up on the ice, and we scattered among the ice blocks for +favorable positions. Everything was in our favor. We +did not for a moment entertain a thought of failure, +although in reality, with the implements at hand, our +project was tantamount to attacking an elephant with +pocket knives.</p> + +<p>We came together behind an unusually high icy +spire only a few hundred yards from the herd. Ten +huge animals were lazily stretched out in the warm sun. +A few lively babies tormented their sleeping mothers. +There was a splendid line of hummocks, behind which +we could advance under cover. With a firm grip on +harpoon and line, we started. Suddenly E-tuk-i-shook +shouted "<i>Nannook</i>!" (Bear.)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span></p> + +<p>We halted. Our implements were no match for a +bear. But we were too hungry to retreat. The bear +paid no attention to us. His nose was set for something +more to his liking. Slowly but deliberately, he crept up +to the snoring herd while we watched with a mad, envious +anger welling up within us. Our position was helpless. +His long neck reached out, the glistening fangs +closed, and a young walrus struggled in the air. All +of the creatures woke, but too late to give battle. With +dismay and rage, the walruses sank into the water, and +the bear slunk off to a safe distance, where he sat down +to a comfortable meal. We were not of sufficient importance +to interest either the bear or the disturbed herd +of giants.</p> + +<p>Our limbs were limp when we returned to the boat. +The sunny glitter of the waters was now darkened by +the gloom of danger from enraged animals. We +crossed to the barren shores in a circuitous route, where +pieces of ice for refuge were always within reach.</p> + +<p>On land, the night was cheerless and cold. We +were not in a mood for sleep. In a lagoon we discovered +moving things. After a little study of their vague darts +they proved to be fish. A diligent search under stones +brought out a few handfuls of tiny finny creatures. +With gratitude I saw that here was an evening meal. +Seizing them, we ate the wriggling things raw. Cooking +was impossible, for we had neither oil nor wood.</p> + +<p>On the next day the sun at noon burned with a real +fire—not the sham light without heat which had kept day +and night in perpetual glitter for several weeks. Not a +breath of air disturbed the blue glitter of the sea. Ice +was scattered everywhere. The central pack was far<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span>ther +away, but on it rested several suspicious black +marks. Through the glasses we made these out to be +groups of walruses. They were evidently sound asleep, +for we heard no calls. They were also so distributed +that there was a hunt both for bear and man without +interference.</p> + +<p>We ventured out with a savage desire sharpened +by a taste of raw fish. As we advanced, several other +groups were noted in the water. They gave us much +trouble. They did not seem ill-tempered, but dangerously +inquisitive. Our boat was dark in color and not +much larger than the body of a full-sized bull. To +them, I presume, it resembled a companion in distress +or asleep. A sight of the boat challenged their curiosity, +and they neared us with the playful intention of +testing with their tusks the hardness of the canvas. We +had experienced such love taps before, however, with +but a narrow escape from drowning, and we had no +desire for further walrus courtship.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, we could maintain a speed almost +equal to theirs, and we also found scattered ice-pans, +about which we could linger while their curiosity was +being satisfied by the splash of an occasional stone.</p> + +<p>From an iceberg we studied the various groups of +walruses for the one best situated for our primitive +methods of attack. We also searched for meddlesome +bears. None was detected. Altogether we counted +more than a hundred grunting, snorting creatures arranged +in black hills along a line of low ice. There were +no hummocks or pressure lifts, under cover of which we +might advance to within the short range required for our +harpoons. All of the walrus-encumbered pans were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> +adrift and disconnected from the main pack. Conflicting +currents gave each group a slightly different motion. +We studied this movement for a little while.</p> + +<p>We hoped, if possible, to make our attack from the +ice. With the security of a solid footing, there was no +danger and there was a greater certainty of success. +But the speed of the ice on this day did not permit such +an advantage. We must risk a water attack. This is +not an unusual method of the Eskimo, but he follows it +with a kayak, a harpoon and line fitted with a float and +a drag for the end of his line. Our equipment was only +a makeshift, and could not be handled in the same way.</p> + +<p>Here was food in massive heaps. We had had no +breakfast and no full meal for many weeks. Something +must be done. The general drift was eastward, but the +walrus pans drifted slightly faster than the main pack. +Along the pack were several high points, projecting a +considerable distance seaward. We took our position +in the canvas boat behind one of these floating capes, and +awaited the drift of the sleeping monsters.</p> + +<p>Their movement was slow enough to give us plenty +of time to arrange our battle tactics. The most vital +part of the equipment was the line. If it were lost, we +could not hope to survive the winter. It could not be +replaced, and without it we could not hope to cope with +the life of the sea, or even that of the land. The line was +a new, strong sealskin rawhide of ample length, which +had been reserved for just such an emergency. Attached +to the harpoon, with the float properly adjusted, +it is seldom lost, for the float moves and permits no +sudden strain.</p> + +<p>To safeguard the line, a pan was selected only a few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> +yards in diameter. This was arranged to do the duty +of a float and a drag. With the knife two holes were +cut, and into these the line was fastened near its center. +The harpoon end was taken into the boat, the other end +was coiled and left in a position where it could be easily +picked from the boat later. Three important purposes +were secured by this arrangement—the line was relieved +of a sudden strain; if it broke, only half would be lost; +and the unused end would serve as a binder to other ice +when the chase neared its end.</p> + +<p>Now the harpoon was set to the shaft, and the bow +of our little twelve-foot boat cleared for action. Peeping +over the wall of ice, we saw the black-littered pans +slowly coming toward us. Our excitement rose to a +shouting point. But our nerves were under the discipline +of famine. The pan, it was evident, would go by +us at a distance of about fifty feet.</p> + +<p>The first group of walruses were allowed to pass. +They proved to be a herd of twenty-one mammoth creatures, +and, entirely aside from the danger of attack, their +unanimous plunge would have raised a sea that must +have swamped us.</p> + +<p>On the next pan were but three spots. At a distance +we persuaded ourselves that they were small—for +we had no ambition for formidable attacks. One thousand +pounds of meat would have been sufficient for us. +They proved, however, to be the largest bulls of the lot. +As they neared the point, the hickory oars of the boat +were gripped—and out we shot. They all rose to meet +us, displaying the glitter of ivory tusks from little +heads against huge wrinkled necks. They grunted and +snorted viciously—but the speed of the boat did not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> +slacken. E-tuk-i-shook rose. With a savage thrust he +sank the harpoon into a yielding neck.</p> + +<p>The walruses tumbled over themselves and sank +into the water on the opposite side of the pan. We +pushed upon the vacated floe without leaving the boat, +taking the risk of ice puncture rather than walrus +thumps. The short line came up with a snap. The ice +pan began to plough the sea. It moved landward. +What luck! I wondered if the walrus would tow us +and its own carcass ashore. We longed to encourage +the homing movement, but we dared not venture out. +Other animals had awakened to the battle call, and now +the sea began to seethe and boil with enraged, leaping +red-eyed monsters.</p> + +<p>The float took a zigzag course in the offing. We +watched the movement with a good deal of anxiety. Our +next meal and our last grip on life were at stake. For +the time being nothing could be done.</p> + +<p>The three animals remained together, two pushing +the wounded one along and holding it up during breathing +spells. In their excitement they either lost their +bearings or deliberately determined to attack. Now +three ugly snouts pointed at us. This was greatly to +our advantage, for on ice we were masters of the +situation.</p> + +<p>Taking inconspicuous positions, we awaited the assault. +The Eskimos had lances, I an Alpine axe. The +walruses dove and came on like torpedo boats, rising +almost under our noses, with a noise that made us dodge. +In a second two lances sank into the harpooned strugglers. +The water was thrashed. Down again went the +three. The lances were jerked back by return lines, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> +in another moment we were ready for another assault +from the other side. But they dashed on, and pulled the +float-floe, on which we had been, against the one on which +we stood, with a crushing blow.</p> + +<p>Here was our first chance to secure the unused end +of the line, fastened on the other floe. Ah-we-lah +jumped to the floe and tossed me the line. The spiked +shaft of the ice-axe was driven in the ice and the line +fixed to it, so now the two floes were held together. Our +stage of action was enlarged, and we had the advantage +of being towed by the animals we fought.</p> + +<p>Here was the quiet sport of the fisherman and the +savage excitement of the battle-field run together in a +new chase. The struggle was prolonged in successive +stages. Time passed swiftly. In six hours, during +which the sun had swept a quarter of the circle, the twin +floes were jerked through the water with the rush of a +gunboat. The jerking line attached to our enraged +pilots sent a thrill of life which made our hearts jump. +The lances were thrown, the line was shortened, a cannonade +of ice blocks was kept up, but the animal gave no +signs of weakening. Seeing that we could not inflict +dangerous wounds, our tactics were changed to a kind of +siege, and we aimed not to permit the animal its breathing +spells.</p> + +<p>The line did not begin to slacken until midnight. +The battle had been on for almost twelve hours. But +we did not feel the strain of action, nor did our chronic +hunger seriously disturb us. Bits of ice quenched our +thirst and the chill of night kept us from sweating. +With each rise of the beast for breath now, the line +slackened. Gently it was hauled in and secured. Then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> +a rain of ice blocks, hurled in rapid succession, drove the +spouting animals down. Soon the line was short enough +to deliver the lance in the captured walrus at close range. +The wounded animal was now less troublesome, but the +others tore about under us like submarine boats, and at +the most unexpected moments would shoot up with a +wild rush.</p> + +<p>We did not attempt to attack them, however. All +our attention was directed to the end of the line. The +lance was driven with every opportunity. It seldom +missed, but the action was more like spurs to a horse, +changing an intended attack upon us to a desperate +plunge into the deep, and depriving the walrus of +oxygen.</p> + +<p>Finally, after a series of spasmodic encounters +which lasted fifteen hours, the enraged snout turned +blue, the fiery eyes blackened, and victory was ours—not +as the result of the knife alone, not in a square fight of +brute force, but by the superior cunning of the human +animal under the stimulus of hunger.</p> + +<p>During all this time we had been drifting. Now, as +the battle ended, we were not far from a point about +three miles south of our camp. Plenty of safe pack-ice +was near. A primitive pulley was arranged by passing +the line through slits in the walrus' nose and holes in the +ice. The great carcass, weighing perhaps three thousand +pounds, was drawn onto the ice and divided into +portable pieces. Before the sun poured its morning +beams over the ice, all had been securely taken ashore.</p> + +<p>With ample blubber, a camp fire was now made between +two rocks by using moss to serve as a wick. Soon, +pot after pot of savory meat was voraciously consumed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> +We ate with a mad, vulgar, insatiable hunger. We +spoke little. Between gulps, the huge heap of meat and +blubber was cached under heavy rocks, and secured—so +we thought—from bears, wolves and foxes.</p> + +<p>When eating was no longer possible, sleeping dens +were arranged in the little boat, and in it, like other gluttonous +animals after an engorgement, we closed our eyes +to a digestive sleep. For the time, at least, we had fathomed +the depths of gastronomic content, and were at +ease with ourselves and with a bitter world of inhuman +strife.</p> + +<p>At the end of about fifteen hours, a stir about our +camp suddenly awoke us. We saw a huge bear nosing +about our fireplace. We had left there a walrus joint, +weighing about one hundred pounds, for our next meal. +We jumped up, all of us, at once, shouting and making +a pretended rush. The bear took up the meat in his +forepaws and walked off, man-like, on two legs, with a +threatening grunt. His movement was slow and cautious, +and his grip on the meat was secure. Occasionally +he veered about, with a beckoning turn of the head, +and a challenging call. But we did not accept the challenge. +After moving away about three hundred yards +on the sea-ice, he calmly sat down and devoured our +prospective meal.</p> + +<p>With lances, bows, arrows, and stones in hand, we +next crossed a low hill, beyond which was located our +precious cache of meat. Here, to our chagrin, we saw +two other bears, with heads down and paws busily digging +about the cache. We were not fitted for a hand-to-hand +encounter. Still, our lives were equally at stake, +whether we attacked or failed to attack. Some defense<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> +must be made. With a shout and a fiendish rush, we +attracted the busy brutes' attention. They raised their +heads, turned, and to our delight and relief, grudgingly +walked off seaward on the moving ice. Each had a big +piece of our meat with him.</p> + +<p>Advancing to the cache, we found it absolutely depleted. +Many other bears had been there. The snow +and the sand was trampled down with innumerable bear +tracks. Our splendid cache of the day previous was entirely +lost. We could have wept with rage and disappointment. +One thing we were made to realize, and +that was that life here was now to be a struggle with the +bears for supremacy. With little ammunition, we were +not at all able to engage in bear fights. So, baffled, and +unable to resent our robbery, starvation again confronting +us, we packed our few belongings and moved westward +over Braebugten Bay to Cape Sparbo.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_421.jpg" width="640" height="395" alt="A THIEF OF THE NORTH" title="" /> +<span class="caption">A THIEF OF THE NORTH</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span></p> +<h2>BULL FIGHTS WITH THE MUSK OX</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">AN ANCIENT CAVE EXPLORED FOR SHELTER—DEATH BY +STARVATION AVERTED BY HAND-TO-HAND ENCOUNTERS +WITH WILD ANIMALS</p> + +<h3>XXVI<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">To the Winter Camp at Cape Sparbo</span></h3> + + +<p>As we crossed the big bay to the east of Cape +Sparbo, our eyes were fixed on the two huge Archæn +rocks which made remarkable landmarks, rising suddenly +to an altitude of about eighteen thousand feet. +They appear like two mountainous islands lifted out of +the water. On closer approach, however, we found the +islands connected with the mainland by low grassy +plains, forming a peninsula. The grassy lands seemed +like promising grounds for caribou and musk ox. The +off-lying sea, we also found, was shallow. In this, I +calculated, would be food to attract the seal and walrus.</p> + +<p>In our slow movement over the land swell of the +crystal waters, it did not take long to discover that our +conjecture was correct.</p> + +<p>Pulling up to a great herd of walrus, we prepared +for battle. But the sea suddenly rose, the wind increased, +and we were forced to abandon the chase and +seek shelter on the nearest land.</p> + +<p>We reached Cape Sparbo, on the shores of Jones<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> +Sound, early in September. Our dogs were gone. Our +ammunition, except four cartridges which I had +secreted for use in a last emergency, was gone. Our +equipment consisted of a half sledge, a canvas boat, a +torn silk tent, a few camp kettles, tin plates, knives, and +matches. Our clothing was splitting to shreds.</p> + +<p>Cape Sparbo, with its huge walls of granite, was to +the leeward. A little bay was noted where we might +gain the rocks in quiet water. Above the rocks was a +small green patch where we hoped to find a soft resting +place for the boat, so that we might place our furs in it +and secure shelter from the bitter wind.</p> + +<p>When we landed we found to our surprise that it +was the site of an old Eskimo village. There was a line +of old igloos partly below water, indicating a very ancient +time of settlement, for since the departure of the +builders of these igloos the coast must have settled at +least fifteen feet. Above were a few other ruins.</p> + +<p>Shortly after arriving we sought an auspicious +place, protected from the wind and cold, where later we +might build a winter shelter. Our search disclosed a +cave-like hole, part of which was dug from the earth, +and over which, with stones and bones, had been constructed +a roof which now was fallen in.</p> + +<p>The long winter was approaching. We were over +three hundred miles from Annoatok, and the coming +of the long night made it necessary for us to halt here. +We must have food and clothing. We now came upon +musk oxen and tried to fell them with boulders, and bows +and arrows made of the hickory of our sledge. Day after +day the pursuit was vainly followed. Had it not been +for occasional ducks caught with looped lines and sling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> +shots, we should have been absolutely without any food.</p> + +<p>By the middle of September, snow and frost came +with such frequency that we omitted hunting for a day +to dig out the ruins in the cave and cut sod before permanent +frost made such work impossible. Bone implements +were shaped from skeletons found on shore for +the digging. Blown drifts of sand and gravel, with some +moss and grass, were slowly removed from the pit. We +found under this, to our great joy, just the underground +arrangement which we desired; a raised platform, +about six feet long and eight feet wide with suitable +wings for the lamp, and footspace, lay ready for +us. The pit had evidently been designed for a small +family. The walls, which were about two feet high, +required little alteration. Another foot was added, +which leveled the structure with the ground. A good +deal of sod was cut and allowed to dry in the sun for +use as a roof.</p> + +<p>While engaged in taking out the stones and cleaning +the dungeon-like excavation, I suddenly experienced +a heart-depressing chill when, lifting some debris, I saw +staring at me from the black earth a hollow-eyed human +skull. The message of death which the weird thing +leeringly conveyed was singularly unpleasant; the omen +was not good. Yet the fact that at this forsaken spot +human hands had once built shelter, or for this thing had +constructed a grave, gave me a certain companionable +thrill.</p> + +<p>On the shore not far away we secured additional +whale ribs and with these made a framework for a roof. +This was later constructed of moss and blocks of sod. +We built a rock wall about the shelter to protect our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span>selves +from storms and bears. Then our winter home +was ready. Food was now an immediate necessity. +Game was found around us in abundance. Most of it +was large. On land there were bear and musk ox, in +the sea the walrus and the whale. But what could we +do without either dogs or rifles?</p> + +<p>The first weapon that we now devised was the bow +and arrow, for with this we could at least secure some +small game. We had in our sledge available hickory +wood of the best quality, than which no wood could be +better; we had sinews and seal lashings for strings, but +there was no metal for tips. We tried bone, horn and +ivory, but all proved ineffective.</p> + +<p>One day, however, E-tuk-i-shook examined his +pocket knife and suggested taking the side blades for +arrow tips. This was done, and the blade with its spring +was set in a bone handle. Two arrows were thus tipped. +The weapons complete, the Eskimo boys went out on +the chase. They returned in the course of a few hours +with a hare and an eider-duck. Joy reigned in camp as +we divided the meat and disposed of it without the +process of cooking.</p> + +<p>A day later, two musk oxen were seen grazing +along the moraine of a wasting glacier. Now the musk +ox is a peace-loving animal and avoids strife, but when +forced into fight it is one of the most desperate and +dangerous of all the fighters of the wilderness. It can +and does give the most fatal thrust of all the horned +animals. No Spanish bull of the pampas, no buffalo +of the plains, has either the slant of horn or the intelligence +to gore its enemies as has this inoffensive-looking +bull of the ice world. The intelligence, indeed, is an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span> +important factor, for after watching musk oxen for a +time under varied conditions, one comes to admire their +almost human intellect as well as their superhuman +power of delivering self-made force.</p> + +<p>Our only means of attack was with the bow and +arrow. The boys crept up behind rocks until within a +few yards of the unsuspecting creatures. They bent +the bows, and the arrows sped with the force and +accuracy as only a hungry savage can master. But the +beasts' pelts were too strong. The musk oxen jumped +and faced their assailants. Each arrow, as it came, was +broken into splints by the feet and the teeth.</p> + +<p>When the arrows were all used a still more primitive +weapon was tried, for the sling shot was brought +into use, with large stones. These missiles the musk +oxen took good naturedly, merely advancing a few steps +to a granite boulder, upon which they sharpened their +horn points and awaited further developments. No +serious injury had been inflicted and they made no +effort to escape.</p> + +<p>Then came a change. When we started to give up +the chase they turned upon us with a fierce rush. Fortunately, +many big boulders were about, and we dodged +around these with large stones in hand to deliver at close +range. In a wild rush a musk ox cannot easily turn, and +so can readily be dodged. Among the rocks two legs +were better than four. The trick of evading the musk +ox I had learned from the dogs. It saved our lives.</p> + +<p>After a while the animals wearied, and we beat a +hasty retreat, with new lessons in our book of hunting +adventures. The bow and arrow was evidently not the +weapon with which to secure musk oxen.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span></p> + +<p>The musk ox of Jones Sound, unlike his brother +farther north, is every ready for battle. He is often +compelled to meet the bear and the wolf in vicious contests, +and his tactics are as thoroughly developed as his +emergencies require. Seldom does he fall the victim of +his enemies. We were a long time in learning completely +his methods of warfare, and if, in the meantime, +we had not secured other game our fate would have been +unfortunate.</p> + +<p>Harpoons and lances were next finally completed, +and with them we hastened to retrieve our honor in the +"ah-ming-ma" chase. For, after all, the musk ox alone +could supply our wants. Winter storms were coming +fast. We were not only without food and fuel, but without +clothing. In our desperate effort to get out of the +regions of famine to the Atlantic, we had left behind +all our winter furs, including the sleeping bags; and our +summer garments were worn out. We required the fuel +and the sinew, the fat and the horn.</p> + +<p>One day we saw a herd of twenty-one musk oxen +quietly grazing on a misty meadow, like cattle on the +western plains. It was a beautiful sight to watch them, +divided as they were into families and in small groups. +The males were in fur slightly brown, while the females +and the young ones were arrayed in magnificent black +pelts.</p> + +<p>To get any of them seemed hopeless, but our appalling +necessities forced us onward. There were no +boulders near, but each of us gathered an armful of +stones, the object being to make a sudden bombardment +and compel them to retreat in disorder and scatter +among the rocks.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span></p> + +<p>We approached under cover of a small grassy +hummock. When we were detected, a bull gave a loud +snort and rushed toward his nearest companions, whereupon +the entire herd gathered into a circle, with the +young in the center.</p> + +<p>We made our sham rush and hurled the stones. +The oxen remained almost motionless, with their heads +down, giving little snorts and stamping a little when +hit, but quickly resuming their immobile position of +watchfulness. After our stones were exhausted, the +animals began to shift positions slightly. We interpreted +this as a move for action. So we gave up the +effort and withdrew.</p> + +<p>The days were long and the nights still light +enough to continue operations as long as we could keep +our eyes open. The whip of hunger made rest impossible. +So we determined to seek a less formidable group +of oxen in a position more favorable. The search was +continued until the sinking glimmer of the sun in the +north marked the time of midnight—for with us at that +time the compass was the timepiece.</p> + +<p>When E-tuk-i-shook secured a hare with the bow +and arrow, we ascended a rocky eminence and sat down +to appease the calling stomach without a camp fire. +From here we detected a family of four musk oxen +asleep not far from another group of rocks.</p> + +<p>This was a call to battle. We were not long in +planning our tactics. The wind was in our favor, permitting +an attack from the side opposite the rocks to +which we aimed to force a retreat. We also found small +stones in abundance, these being now a necessary part of +our armament. Our first effort was based on the suppo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span>sition +of their remaining asleep. They were simply chewing +their cud, however, and rose to form a ring of defence +as we advanced. We stormed them with stones +and they took to the shelter of the rocks. We continued +to advance slowly upon them, throwing stones occasionally +to obviate a possible assault from them before we +could also seek the shelter of the rocks.</p> + +<p>Besides the bow and arrow and the stones, we now +had lances and these we threw as they rushed to attack +us. Two lances were crushed to small fragments before +they could be withdrawn by the light line attached. +They inflicted wounds, but not severe ones.</p> + +<p>Noting the immense strength of the animals, we at +first thought it imprudent to risk the harpoon with its +precious line, for if we lost it we could not replace it. +But the destruction of the two lances left us no alternative.</p> + +<p>Ah-we-lah threw the harpoon. It hit a rib, glanced +to a rock, and was also destroyed. Fortunately we had +a duplicate point, which was quickly fastened. Then +we moved about to encourage another onslaught.</p> + +<p>Two came at once, an old bull and a young one. +E-tuk-i-shook threw the harpoon at the young one, and +it entered. The line had previously been fastened to a +rock, and the animal ran back to its associates, apparently +not severely hurt, leaving the line slack. One of +the others immediately attacked the line with horns, +hoofs and teeth, but did not succeed in breaking it.</p> + +<p>Our problem now was to get rid of the other three +while we dealt with the one at the end of the line. Our +only resource was a sudden fusilade of stones. This +proved effective. The three scattered and ascended the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span> +boulder-strewn foreland of a cliff, where the oldest bull +remained to watch our movements. The young bull +made violent efforts to escape but the line of sealskin +was strong and elastic. A lucky throw of a lance at +close range ended the strife. Then we advanced on the +old bull, who was alone in a good position for us.</p> + +<p>We gathered stones and advanced, throwing them +at the creature's body. This, we found, did not enrage +him, but it prevented his making an attack. As we +gained ground he gradually backed up to the edge of +the cliff, snorting viciously but making no effort whatever +either to escape along a lateral bench or to attack. +His big brown eyes were upon us; his sharp horns were +pointed at us. He evidently was planning a desperate +lunge and was backing to gain time and room, but each +of us kept within a few yards of a good-sized rock.</p> + +<p>Suddenly we made a combined rush into the open, +hurling stones, and keeping a long rock in a line for +retreat. Our storming of stones had the desired effect. +The bull, annoyed and losing its presence of mind, +stepped impatiently one step too far backwards and fell +suddenly over the cliff, landing on a rocky ledge below. +Looking over we saw he had broken a fore leg. The cliff +was not more than fifteen feet high. From it the lance +was used to put the poor creature out of suffering. We +were rich now and could afford to spread out our +stomachs, contracted by long spells of famine. The bull +dressed about three hundred pounds of meat and one +hundred pounds of tallow.</p> + +<p>We took the tallow and as much meat as we could +carry on our backs, and started for the position of our +prospective winter camp, ten miles away. The meat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span> +left was carefully covered with heavy stones to protect +it from bears, wolves and foxes. On the following day +we returned with the canvas boat, making a landing +about four miles from the battlefield. As we neared +the caches we found to our dismay numerous bear and +fox tracks. The bears had opened the caches and removed +our hard-earned game, while the foxes and the +ravens had cleared up the very fragments and destroyed +even the skins. Here was cause for vengeance +on the bear and the fox. The fox paid his skin later, +but the bear out-generaled us in nearly every +maneuvre.</p> + +<p>We came prepared to continue the chase but had +abandoned the use of the harpoon. Our main hope for +fuel was the blubber of the walrus, and if the harpoon +should be destroyed or lost we could not hope to attack +so powerful a brute as a walrus with any other device. +In landing we had seen a small herd of musk oxen at +some distance to the east, but they got our wind and +vanished. We decided to follow them up. One day +we found them among a series of rolling hills, where the +receding glaciers had left many erratic boulders. They +lined up in their ring of defence as usual when we were +detected. There were seven of them; all large creatures +with huge horns. A bitter wind was blowing, driving +some snow, which made our task more difficult.</p> + +<p>The opening of the fight with stones was now a +regular feature which we never abandoned in our later +development of the art, but the manner in which we delivered +the stones depended upon the effect which we +wished to produce. If we wished the musk oxen to retreat, +we would make a combined rush, hurling the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> +stones at the herd. If we wished them to remain in position +and discourage their attack, we advanced slowly +and threw stones desultorily, more or less at random. +If we wanted to encourage attacks, one man advanced +and delivered a large rock as best he could at the head. +This was cheap ammunition and it was very effective.</p> + +<p>In this case the game was in a good position for +us and we advanced accordingly. They allowed us to +take positions within about fifteen feet, but no nearer. +The lances were repeatedly tried without effect, and +after a while two of these were again broken.</p> + +<p>Having tried bow and arrow, stones, the lance and +the harpoon, we now tried another weapon. We threw +the lasso—but not successfully, owing to the bushy hair +about the head and the roundness of the hump of the +neck. Then we tried to entangle their feet with slip +loops just as we trapped gulls. This also failed. We +next extended the loop idea to the horns. The bull's +habit of rushing at things hurled at him caused us to +think of this plan.</p> + +<p>A large slip loop was now made in the center of +the line, and the two natives took up positions on opposite +sides of the animal. They threw the rope, with its +loop, on the ground in front of the creature, while I +encouraged an attack from the front. As the head was +slightly elevated the loop was raised, and the bull put +his horns in it, one after the other. The rope was now +rapidly fastened to stones and the bull tightened the +loop by his efforts to advance or retreat. With every +opportunity the slack was taken up, until no play was +allowed the animal. During this struggle all the other +oxen retreated except one female, and she was in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span>offensive. +A few stones at close range drove her off. +Then we had the bull where we could reach him with the +lance at arm's length, and plunge it into his vitals. He +soon fell over, the first victim to our new art of musk +ox capture.</p> + +<p>The others did not run very far away. Indeed, +they were too fat to run, and two more were soon +secured in the same way. This time we took all the meat +we could with us to camp and left a man on guard. +When all was removed to the bay we found the load too +heavy for our boat, so, in two loads, we transported the +meat and fat and skins to our camp, where we built +caches which we believed impregnable to the bear, +although the thieving creatures actually opened them +later.</p> + +<p>Our lances repaired, we started out for another adventure +a few days later. It was a beautiful day. Our +methods of attack were not efficient, but we wished to +avoid the risk of the last plunge of the lance, for our +lives were in the balance every time if the line should +break, and with every lunge of the animal we expected +it to snap. In such case, we knew, the assailant would +surely be gored.</p> + +<p>We were sufficiently independent now to proceed +more cautiously. With the bull's willingness to put his +head into the loop, I asked myself whether the line loop +could not be slipped beyond the horns and about the +neck, thus shutting off the air. So the line was lengthened +with this effort in view.</p> + +<p>Of the many groups of oxen which we saw we +picked those in the positions most to our advantage, +although rather distant. Our new plan was tried with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span> +success on a female. A bull horned her vigorously +when she gasped for breath, and which aided our +efforts. A storming of stones scattered the others of +the group, and we were left to deal with our catch +with the knife.</p> + +<p>Our art of musk ox fighting was now completely +developed. In the course of a few weeks we secured +enough to assure comfort and ease during the long +night. By our own efforts we were lifted suddenly +from famine to luxury. But it had been the stomach +with its chronic emptiness which had lashed the mind and +body to desperate efforts with sufficient courage to face +the danger. Hunger, as I have found, is more potent +as a stimulant than barrels of whiskey. Beginning with +the bow and arrow we had tried everything which we +could devise, but now our most important acquisition +was our intimate knowledge of the animal's own means +of offense and defense.</p> + +<p>We knew by a kind of instinct when an attack +upon us was about to be made, because the animal made +a forward move, and we never failed in our efforts to +force a retreat. The rocks which the animals sought for +an easy defense were equally useful to us, and later we +forced them into deep waters and also deep snow with +similar success. By the use of stones and utilizing the +creatures' own tactics we placed them where we wished. +And then again, by the animal's own efforts, we forced +it to strangle itself, which, after all, was the most +humane method of slaughter. Three human lives were +thus saved by the invention of a new art of chase. +This gave us courage to attack those more vicious but +less dangerous animals, the bear and walrus.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span></p> + +<p>The musk ox now supplied many wants in our +"Robinson Crusoe" life. From the bone we made harpoon +points, arrow pieces, knife handles, fox traps and +sledge repairs. The skin, with its remarkable fur, made +our bed and roofed our igloo. Of it we made all kinds +of garments, but its greatest use was for coats with +hoods, stockings and mittens. From the skin, with the +fur removed, we made boots, patched punctures in our +boat, and cut lashings. The hair and wool which were +removed from the skins made pads for our palms in the +mittens and cushions for the soles of our feet in lieu of +the grass formerly used.</p> + +<p>The meat became our staple food for seven months +without change. It was a delicious product. It has a +flavor slightly sweet, like that of horseflesh, but still +distinctly pleasing. It possesses an odor unlike musk +but equally unlike anything that I know of. The live +creatures exhale the scent of domestic cattle. Just why +this odd creature is called "musk" ox is a mystery, for +it is neither an ox, nor does it smell of musk. The +Eskimo name of "ah-ming-ma" would fit it much better. +The bones were used as fuel for outside fires, and the +fat as both fuel and food.</p> + +<p>At first our wealth of food came with surprise and +delight to us, for, in the absence of sweet or starchy +foods, man craves fat. Sugar and starch are most +readily converted into fat by the animal laboratory, and +fat is one of the prime factors in the development and +maintenance of the human system. It is the confectionery +of aboriginal man, and we had taken up the lot +of the most primitive aborigines, living and thriving +solely on the product of the chase without a morsel of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> +civilized or vegetable food. Under these circumstances +we especially delighted in the musk ox tallow, and more +especially in the marrow, which we sucked from the +bone with the eagerness with which a child jubilantly +manages a stick of candy.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_436.jpg" width="640" height="393" alt="ARCTIC WOLF" title="" /> +<span class="caption">ARCTIC WOLF</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="WITH_A_NEW_ART_OF_CHASE_IN_A_NEW" id="WITH_A_NEW_ART_OF_CHASE_IN_A_NEW"></a>WITH A NEW ART OF CHASE IN A NEW +WORLD OF LIFE</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">THREE WEEKS BEFORE THE SUNSET OF 1908—REVELLING +IN AN EDEN OF GAME—PECULIARITIES OF ANIMALS +OF THE ARCTIC—HOW NATURE DICTATES ANIMAL +COLOR—THE QUEST OF SMALL LIFE</p> + +<h3>XXVII<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">Coming of the Second Winter</span></h3> + + +<p>In two months, from the first of September to the +end of October, we passed from a period of hunger, +thirst and abject misery into the realm of abundant +game. The spell for inactivity had not yet come. Up +to this time we were too busy with the serious business +of life to realize thoroughly that we had really discovered +a new natural wonderland. The luck of Robinson +Crusoe was not more fortunate than ours, although he +had not the cut of frost nor the long night, nor the +torment of bears to circumscribe his adventures. In +successive stages of battle our eyes had opened to a new +world of life.</p> + +<p>In searching every nook and cranny of land we had +acquired new arts of life and a new perspective of +nature's wonders. We slept in caves in storm; in +the lee of icebergs in strong winds and on the mossy +cushions of earth concavities. Here we learned to study<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span> +and appreciate primal factors of both animal and plant +life.</p> + +<p>In the Arctic, nature tries to cover its nakedness in +places where the cruel winds do not cut its contour. +The effort is interesting, not only because of the charm +of the verdant dress, but because of the evidence of a +motherly protection to the little life cells which struggle +against awful odds to weave that fabric wherever a +terrestrial dimple is exposed to the kisses of the southern +sun. In these depressions, sheltered from the +blasts of storms, a kindly hand spreads a beautiful +mantle of colorful grass, moss, lichens and flowery +plants.</p> + +<p>Here the lemming digs his home under the velvet +cover, where he may enjoy the roots and material protection +from the abysmal frost of the long night. Here +in the protected folds of Mother Earth, blanketed by the +warm white robe of winter, he sleeps the peace of death +while the warring elements blast in fury outside.</p> + +<p>Here the Arctic hare plays with its bunnies during +summer, and as the winter comes the young grow to +full maturity and dress in a silky down of white. Under +the snow they burrow, making long tunnels, still eating +and sleeping on their loved cushions of frozen plants, +far under the snow-skirts of Mother Earth, while the +life-stilling blasts without expend their wintry force.</p> + +<p>Here the ptarmigan scratches for its food. The +musk ox and the caribou browse, while the raven, with a +kind word for all, collects food for its palate. The bear +and the wolf occasionally visit to collect tribute, while +the falcon and the fox with one eye open are ever on +the alert for the exercise of their craft.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span></p> + +<p>In these little smiling indentations of nature, when +the sun begins to caress the gentle slopes, while the snow +melts and flows in leaping streams—the sea still locked +by the iron grip of the winter embrace—the Arctic incubator +works overtime to start the little ones of the +snow wilds. Thus in these dimples of nature rocks the +cradle of boreal life.</p> + +<p>Relieved of the all-absorbing care of providing +food, I now was often held spellbound as I wandered +over these spots of nature's wonders. Phases of life +which never interested me before now riveted my attention. +Wandering from the softly cushioned gullies, the +harsh ridge life next came under my eyes. While the +valleys and the gullies become garden spots of summer +glory, the very protection from winds which makes this +life possible buries the vegetable luxuriousness in winter +under unfathomable depths of snow. The musk ox and +the caribou, dependent upon this plant life for food, +therefore become deprived of the usual means of subsistence. +But Mother Nature does not desert her +children. The same winds which compel man and +feebler animals to seek shelter from its death-dealing +assault, afford food to the better fitted musk ox and +caribou. In summer, plants, like animals, climb to +ridges, hummocks and mountain slopes, to get air and +light and warm sunbeams. But the battle here is hard, +and only very strong plants survive the force of wind +and frosts.</p> + +<p>The plant fibre here become tenacious; with a body +gnarled and knotty from long conflict the roots dig +yards deep into the soil. This leaves the breathing part +of the plant dwarfed to a few inches. Here the winter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span> +winds sweep off the snow and offer food to the musk ox +and caribou. Thus the wind, which destroys, also gives +means of life. The equalizing balance of nature is truly +wonderful.</p> + +<p>In small, circumscribed areas we thus found ourselves +in a new Eden of primeval life.</p> + +<p>The topography of North Devon, however, placed +a sharp limit to the animated wilderness. Only a narrow +strip of coast about Cape Sparbo, extending about +twenty-five miles to the east and about forty miles to +the west, presented any signs of land life. All other +parts of the south shore of Jones Sound are more barren +than the shores of the Polar sea.</p> + +<p>Although our larder was now well stocked with +meat for food and blubber for fuel, we were still in need +of furs and skins to prepare a new equipment with +which to return to the Greenland shores. The animals +whose pelts we required were abundant everywhere. +But they were too active to be caught by the art and +the weapons evolved earlier in the chase of the walrus, +bear and musk ox.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 536px;"> +<img src="images/illo_441.jpg" width="536" height="800" alt="E-TUK-I-SHOOK WAITING FOR A SEAL AT A BLOW-HOLE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">E-TUK-I-SHOOK WAITING FOR A SEAL AT A BLOW-HOLE</span> +</div> + +<p>A series of efforts, therefore, was directed to the +fox, the hare, the ptarmigan and the seal. It was necessary +to devise special methods and means of capture +for each family of animals. The hare was perhaps the +most important, not only because its delicately flavored +meat furnished a pleasing change from the steady diet +of musk ox, but also because its skin is not equalled by +any other for stockings. In our quest of the musk ox +we had startled little groups of creatures from many +centers. Their winter fur was not prime until after the +middle of October. Taking notes of their haunts and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span> +their habits, we had, therefore, reserved the hare hunt +until the days just before sunset.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 538px;"> +<img src="images/illo_442.jpg" width="538" height="800" alt="TOWARD CAPE SPARBO IN A CANVAS BOAT +WALRUS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">TOWARD CAPE SPARBO IN A CANVAS BOAT<br /> +WALRUS—PRIZE OF A FIFTEEN HOUR BATTLE—4,000 POUNDS OF +MEAT AND FAT</span> +</div> + + +<p>We had learned to admire this little aristocrat. It +is the most beautiful, most delicate of northern creatures. +Early in the summer we had found it grazing +in the green meadows along the base of bird cliffs. The +little gray bunnies then played with their mothers about +crystal dens. Now the babes were full grown and +clothed in the same immaculate white of the parents. +We could distinguish the young only by their greater +activity and their ceaseless curiosity.</p> + +<p>In the immediate vicinity of camp we found them +first in gullies where the previous winter's snow had but +recently disappeared. Here the grass was young and +tender and of a flavor to suit their taste for delicacies. +A little later they followed the musk ox to the shores of +lagoons or to the wind-swept hills. Still later, as the +winter snows blanketed the pastures and the bitter +storms of night swept the cheerless drifts, they dug +long tunnels under the snow for food, and when the +storms were too severe remained housed in these feeding +dugouts.</p> + +<p>An animal of rare intelligence, the hare is quick to +grasp an advantage, and therefore as winter advances +we find it a constant companion of the musk ox. For in +the diggings of the musk ox this little creature finds +sufficient food uncovered for its needs.</p> + +<p>With a skeleton as light as that of the bird and a +skin as frail as paper it is nevertheless as well prepared +to withstand the rigors of the Arctic as the bear with +its clumsy anatomy. The entire makeup of the hare is +based upon the highest strain of animal economy. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> +expends the greatest possible amount of energy at the +cost of the least consumption of food. Its fur is as +white as the boreal snows and absorbs color somewhat +more readily. In a stream of crimson light it appears +red and white; in a shadow of ice or in the darkness of +night it assumes the subdued blue of the Polar world. +Nature has bleached its fur seemingly to afford the best +protection against the frigid chill, for a suitable white +fur permits the escape of less bodily heat than any +colored or shaded pelt.</p> + +<p>The fox is its only real enemy, and the fox's chance +of success is won only by superior cunning. Its protection +against the fox lies in its lightning-like movement +of the legs. When it scents danger it rises by a series +of darts that could be followed only by birds. Its expenditure +of muscular energy is so economical that it +can continue its run for an almost indefinite time. +Shooting along a few hundred paces, it then rises to rest +in an erect posture. With its black-tipped ears in line +with its back it makes a fascinating little bit of nature's +handiwork. Again, when asleep, it curls up +its legs carefully in the long fur of its body, and its ever-active +nose, with the divided lip, is then pushed into the +long soft fur of the breast where the frost crystals are +screened from the breath when storms carry drift snow. +It is a fluffy ball of animation which provokes one's +admiration.</p> + +<p>Deprived as we were of most of the usual comforts +of life, many things were taught us by the creatures +about. From the hare, with its scrupulous attention to +cleanliness, we learned how to cleanse our hands and +faces. With no soap, no towels and very little water,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span> +we had some difficulty in trying to keep respectable +appearances. The hare has the same problem to deal +with, but it is provided by nature with a cleansing apparatus. +Its own choice is the forepaw, but with its need +for snow shoes the hind legs serve a very useful purpose, +and then, too, the surface is developed, a surface covered +with tough fur which, we discovered, possessed the +quality of a wet sponge and did not require, for efficiency, +either soap or water. With hare paws, therefore, +we kept clean. These paws also served as napkins. To +take the place of a basin and a towel we therefore gathered +a supply of hare paws, enough to keep clean for +at least six months.</p> + +<p>The hare was a good mark for E-tuk-i-shook with +the sling shot, and many fell victims to his primitive +genius. Ah-we-lah, never an expert at stone slinging, +became an adept with the bow and arrow. Usually he +returned with at least a hare from every day's chase. +Our main success resulted from a still more primitive +device. Counting on its inquisitiveness we devised a +chain of loop lines arranged across the hare's regular +lines of travel. In playing and jumping through these +loops, the animal tightened the lines and became our victim +automatically.</p> + +<p>The ptarmigan chase was possible only for Ah-we-lah. +The bird was not at all shy, for it often came close +to our den and scattered the snow like a chicken. It was +too small a mark for the sling shot and only Ah-we-lah +could give the arrow the precise direction for these +feathered creatures. Altogether, fifteen were secured +in our locality, and all served as dessert for my special +benefit. According to Eskimo custom, a young, un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span>married +man or woman cannot eat the ptarmigan, or +"<i>ahr-rish-shah</i>" as they call it. That pleasure is reserved +for the older people, and I did not for a moment +risk the sacrilege of trying to change the custom. It +was greatly to my advantage, for it not only impressed +with suitable force my dignity as a superior Eskimo, +but it enabled me to enjoy an entire bird at a time instead +of only a teasing mouthful.</p> + +<p>To us the ptarmigan was at all times fascinating, +but it proved ever a thing of mystery. Descending from +the skies at unexpected times it embarks again for +haunts unknown. At times we saw the birds in great +numbers. At other times they were absent for months. +In summer the bird has gray and brown feathers, +mingled with white. It keeps close to the inland ice, +making its course along the snowy coast of Noonataks, +beyond the reach of man or fox. Late in September it +seeks the lower ground along the sea level.</p> + +<p>Like the hare and the musk ox, it delights in windy +places where the snow has been driven away. There it +finds bits of moss and withered plants which satisfy its +needs. The summer plumage is at first sight like that +of the partridge. On close examination one finds the +feathers are only tipped with color—underneath, the +plumage is white. In winter it retains only the black +feathers of its tail, otherwise it is as white as the hare. +Its legs often are covered with tough fur, like that of +the hare's lower hind legs. The meat is delicate in +flavor and tender. It is the most beautiful of the four +birds that remain in the white world when all is bleak +during the night.</p> + +<p>We sought the fox more diligently than the ptarmi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span>gan. +We had a more tangible way of securing it. +Furthermore, we were in great need of its skin. +E-tuk-i-shook and Ah-we-lah regarded fox hams as +quite a delicacy—a delicacy which I never willingly +shared when there were musk tenderloins about. We +had no steel traps, and with its usual craft the fox usually +managed to evade our crude weapons by keeping +out of sight. Bone traps were made with a good deal of +care after the pattern of steel traps. We used a musk-ox +horn as a spring. But with these we were only partially +successful. As a last resort, little domes were arranged +in imitation of the usual caches, with trap stone doors. +In these we managed to secure fourteen white and two +blue animals. After that they proved too wise for our +craft.</p> + +<p>The fox becomes shy only in the end of October, +when its fur begins to be really worth taking. Before +that it followed us everywhere on the musk ox quest, for +it was not slow to learn the advantage of being near our +battle scenes. We frequently left choice bits for its +picking, a favor which it seemed to appreciate by a careful +watchfulness of our camps. Although a much more +cunning thief than the bear, we could afford its plunderings, +for it had not so keen a taste for blubber and its +capacity was limited. We thus got well acquainted.</p> + +<p>Up to the present we had failed in the quest of the +seal. During the open season of summer, without a +<i>kayak</i>, we could not get near the animal. As the winter +and the night advanced, we were too busy with the land +animals to watch the blow-holes in the new ice. When +the sea is first spread with the thin sheet of colorless ice, +which later thickens, the seal rises to the surface, makes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span> +a breathing hole, descends to its feeding grounds on the +sea bottom for about ten minutes, then rises and makes +another hole. This line of openings is arranged in a +circle or a series of connecting, oblong lines, marking +that particular seal's favorite feeding ground. Before +the young ice is covered with snow, these breathing holes +are easily located by a ring of white frost crystals, which +condense and fall as the seal blows. But now that the +winter had sheeted the black ice evenly with a white +cover, the seal holes, though open, could not be found. +We were not in need of either fat or meat, but the seal +skins were to fill an important want. We required for +boots and sled lashing the thin, tough seal hide. How +could we get it?</p> + +<p>From our underground den we daily watched the +wanderings of the bears. They trailed along certain +lines which we knew to be favorable feeding grounds for +seals, but they did not seem to be successful. Could we +not profit by their superb scenting instinct and find the +blow-holes? The bear had been our worst enemy, but +unconsciously it also proved to be our best friend.</p> + +<p>We started out to trail the bear's footprints. By +these we were led to the blow-holes, where we found the +snow about had been circled with a regular trail. Most of +these had been abandoned, for the seal has a scent as keen +as the bear, but a few "live" holes were located. Sticks +were placed to locate these, and after a few days' careful +study and hard work we harpooned six seals. Taking +only the skins and blubber, we left the carcasses for +bruin's share of the chase—to be consumed later. We did +not hunt together with the bear—at least, not knowingly.</p> + +<p>In these wanderings over game lands we were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span> +permitted a very close scrutiny of the animals about, and +it was at this time that I came to certain definite conclusions +as to prevailing laws of color and dress of our +co-habitants of the Polar wastes.</p> + +<p>The animals of the Arctic assume a color in accordance +to their need for heat transmission. The prevailing +influence is white, as light furs permit the least +escape of heat. It is evidently more important to confine +the heat of the body, than to gather heat from the +sun's feeble rays. The necessity for bleaching the furry +raiment becomes most operative in winter when the +temperature of the air is 150° below that of the body. +In the summer, when the continued sunshine is made +more heating by the piercing influence of the reflecting +snow-fields, there is a tendency to absorb heat. Then +nature darkens the skin, which absorbs heat accordingly.</p> + +<p>The relative advantage of light and dark shades +can be easily demonstrated by placing pieces of white +and black cloth on a surface of snow, with a slope at +right angles to the sun's rays. If, after a few hours, +the cloth is removed the snow under the black cloth will +be melted considerably, while that under the white cloth +will show little effect.</p> + +<p>Nature makes use of this law of physics to ease +the hard lot of its creatures fighting the weather in the +icy world. The laws of color protection as advocated +in the rules of natural selection are not operative here, +because of the vitally important demand of heat economy. +If we now seek the problem of nature's body +colored dyes, with heat economy as the key, our calculations +will become easy. The serwah, a species of guillemot, +which is as black as the raven in summer, is white<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span> +in winter. The ptarmigan is light as pearl in winter, but +its feathers become tipped with amber in summer. The +hare is slightly gray in summer, but, in winter, becomes +white as the snow under which it finds food and shelter.</p> + +<p>The white fox is gray in summer, the blue fox +darkens as the sun advances, while its under fur becomes +lighter with increasing cold. The caribou is dark brown +as it grazes the moss-colored fields, but becomes nearly +white with the permanent snows. The polar bear, as +white as nature can make it, with only blubber to mix +its paints, basks in the midnight sun with a raiment +suggestive of gold. The musk ox changes its dark +under-fur for a lighter shade. The raven has a white +under-coat in winter. The rat is gray in summer but +bleaches to blue-gray in winter time. The laws of selection +and heat economy are thus combined.</p> + +<p>While thus preparing for the coming winter by +seeking animals with furry pelts, the weather conditions +made our task increasingly difficult. The storm of the +descending sun whipped the seas into white fury and +brushed the lands with icy clouds. With the descent of +the sun, nature again set its seal of gloom on Arctic life. +The cheer of a sunny heaven was blotted from the skies, +and the coming of the winter blackness was signalled by +the beginning of a warfare of the elements. All hostile +nature was now set loose to expend its restive battle +energy.</p> + +<p>For brief moments the weather was quiet, and then +in awe-inspiring silence we steered for sequestered gullies +in quest of little creatures. This death-like stillness +was in harmony with our loneliness. As the sea was +stilled by the iron bonds of frost, as life sought protec<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span>tion +under the storm-driven snows of land, the winds, +growing even wilder, beat a maddening onslaught over +the dead, frozen world. The thunder of elements shook +the very rocks under which we slept. Then again would +fall a spell of that strange silence—all was dead, the sun +glowed no more, the creatures of the wilds were hushed. +We were all alone—alone in a vast, white dead world.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_451.jpg" width="640" height="299" alt="LEMMING" title="" /> +<span class="caption">LEMMING</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span></p> +<h2>A HUNDRED NIGHTS IN AN UNDERGROUND +DEN</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">LIVING LIKE MEN OF THE STONE AGE—THE DESOLATION +OF THE LONG NIGHT—LIFE ABOUT CAPE SPARBO—PREPARING +EQUIPMENT FOR THE RETURN TO GREENLAND—SUNRISE, +FEBRUARY 11, 1909</p> + +<h3>XXVIII<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">Life About Cape Sparbo</span></h3> + + +<p>The coming night slowly fixed its seal on our field +of activity. Early in August the sun had dipped under +the icy contour of North Lincoln, and Jones Sound had +then begun to spread its cover of crystal. The warm +rays gradually melted in a perpetual blue frost. The +air thickened. The land darkened. The days shortened. +The night lengthened. The Polar cold and darkness +of winter came hand in hand.</p> + +<p>Late in September the nights had become too dark +to sleep in the open, with inquisitive bears on every side. +Storms, too, increased thereafter and deprived us of the +cheer of colored skies. Thus we were now forced to +seek a retreat in our underground den.</p> + +<p>We took about as kindly to this as a wild animal +does to a cage. For over seven months we had wandered +over vast plains of ice, with a new camp site almost<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span> +every day. We had grown accustomed to a wandering +life like that of the bear, but we had not developed his +hibernating instinct. We were anxious to continue our +curious battle of life.</p> + +<p>In October the bosom of the sea became blanketed, +and the curve of the snow-covered earth was polarized +in the eastern skies. The final period for the death of +day and earthly glory was advancing, but Nature in her +last throes displayed some of her most alluring phases. +The colored silhouette of the globe was perhaps the most +remarkable display. In effect, this was a shadow of the +earth thrown into space. By the reflected, refracted +and polarized light of the sun, the terrestrial shadows +were outlined against the sky in glowing colors. Seen +occasionally in other parts of the globe, it is only in the +Polar regions, with its air of crystal and its surface of +mirrors, that the proper mediums are afforded for this +gigantic spectral show.</p> + +<p>We had an ideal location. A glittering sea, with a +level horizon, lay along the east and west. The weather +was good, the skies were clear, and, as the sun sank, the +sky over it was flushed with orange or gold. This +gradually paled, and over the horizon opposite there +rose an arc in feeble prismatic colors with a dark zone +of purple under it. The arc rose as the sun settled; the +purple spread beyond the polarized bow; and gradually +the heavens turned a deep purple blue to the zenith, +while the halo of the globe was slowly lost in its own +shadow.</p> + +<p>The colored face of the earth painted on the screen +of the heavens left the last impression of worldly charm +on the retina. In the end of October the battle of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span> +elements, storms attending the setting of the sun, began +to blast the air into a chronic fury. By this time we +were glad to creep into our den and await the vanishing +weeks of ebbing day.</p> + +<p>In the doom of night to follow, there would at least +be some quiet moments during which we could stretch +our legs. The bears, which had threatened our existence, +were now kept off by a new device which served +the purpose for a time. We had food and fuel enough +for the winter. There should have been nothing to have +disturbed our tempers, but the coming of the long blackness +makes all Polar life ill at ease.</p> + +<p>Early in November the storms ceased long enough +to give us a last fiery vision. With a magnificent cardinal +flame the sun rose, gibbered in the sky and sank behind +the southern cliffs on November 3. It was not to +rise again until February 11 of the next year. We were +therefore doomed to hibernate in our underground den +for at least a hundred double nights before the dawn of +a new day opened our eyes.</p> + +<p>The days now came and went in short order. For +hygienic reasons we kept up the usual routine of life. +The midday light soon darkened to twilight. The moon +and stars appeared at noon. The usual partition of time +disappeared. All was night, unrelieved darkness, midnight, +midday, morning or evening.</p> + +<p>We stood watches of six hours each to keep the +fires going, to keep off the bears and to force an interest +in a blank life. We knew that we were believed to be +dead. For our friends in Greenland would not ascribe +to us the luck which came after our run of abject +misfortune. This thought inflicted perhaps the greatest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span> +pain of the queer prolongation of life which was permitted +us. It was loneliness, frigid loneliness. I wondered +whether men ever felt so desolately alone.</p> + +<p>We could not have been more thoroughly isolated +if we had been transported to the surface of the moon. +I find myself utterly unable to outline the emptiness of +our existence. In other surroundings we never grasp +the full meaning of the word "alone." When it is possible +to put a foot out of doors into sunlight without the +risk of a bear-paw on your neck it is also possible to +run off a spell of blues, but what were we to do with +every dull rock rising as a bear ghost and with the torment +of a satanic blackness to blind us?</p> + +<p>With the cheer of day, a kindly nature and a new +friend, it is easy to get in touch with a sympathetic +chord. The mere thought of another human heart within +touch, even a hundred miles away, would have eased +the suspense of the silent void. But we could entertain +no such hopefulness. We were all alone in a world +where every pleasant aspect of nature had deserted us. +Although three in number, a bare necessity had compressed +us into a single composite individuality.</p> + +<p>There were no discussions, no differences of +opinion. We had been too long together under bitter +circumstances to arouse each other's interest. A single +individual could not live long in our position. A selfish +instinct tightened a fixed bond to preserve and protect +one another. As a battle force we made a formidable +unit, but there was no matches to start the fires of +inspiration.</p> + +<p>The half darkness of midday and the moonlight still +permitted us to creep from under the ground and seek<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span> +a few hours in the open. The stone and bone fox traps +and the trap caves for the bears which we had built during +the last glimmer of day offered an occupation with +some recreation. But we were soon deprived of this.</p> + +<p>Bears headed us off at every turn. We were not +permitted to proceed beyond an enclosed hundred feet +from the hole of our den. Not an inch of ground or a +morsel of food was permitted us without a contest. It +was a fight of nature against nature. We either actually +saw the little sooty nostrils with jets of vicious breath +rising, and the huge outline of a wild beast ready to +spring on us, or imagined we saw it. With no adequate +means of defense we were driven to imprisonment +within the walls of our own den.</p> + +<p>From within, our position was even more tantalizing. +The bear thieves dug under the snows over our +heads and snatched blocks of blubber fuel from under +our very eyes at the port without a consciousness of +wrongdoing. Occasionally we ventured out to deliver +a lance, but each time the bear would make a leap for +the door and would have entered had the opening been +large enough. In other cases we shot arrows through +the peep-hole. A bear head again would burst through +the silk covered window near the roof, where knives, at +close range and in good light, could be driven with +sweet vengeance.</p> + +<p>As a last resort we made a hole through the top of +the den. When a bear was heard near, a long torch was +pushed through. The snow for acres about was then +suddenly flashed with a ghostly whiteness which almost +frightened us. But the bear calmly took advantage of +the light to pick a larger piece of the blubber upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span> +which our lives depended, and then with an air of superiority +he would move into the brightest light, usually +within a few feet of our peep-hole, where we could +almost touch his hateful skin. Without ammunition we +were helpless.</p> + +<p>Two weeks after sunset we heard the last cry of +ravens. After a silence of several days they suddenly +descended with a piercing shout which cut the frosty +stillness. We crept out of our den quickly to read the +riddle of the sudden bluster. There were five ravens on +five different rocks, and the absence of the celestial color +gave them quite an appropriate setting. They were +restless: there was no food for them. A fox had preceded +them with his usual craftiness, and had left no +pickings for feathered creatures.</p> + +<p>A family of five had gathered about in October, +when the spoils of the chase were being cached, and we +encouraged their stay by placing food for them regularly. +Some times a sly fox, and at other times a thieving +bear, got the little morsels, but there were usually +sufficient picking for the raven's little crop. They had +found a suitable cave high up in the great cliffs of granite +behind our den.</p> + +<p>We were beginning to be quite friendly. My +Eskimo companions ascribed to the birds almost human +qualities and they talked to them reverently, thereby displaying +their heart's desire. The secrets of the future +were all entrusted to their consideration. Would the +"too-loo-ah" go to Eskimo Lands and deliver their +messages? The raven said "ka-ah" (yes).</p> + +<p>E-tuk-i-shook said: "Go and take the tears from +An-na-do-a's eyes; tell her that I am alive and well and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span> +will come to take her soon. Tell Pan-ic-pa (his father) +that I am in Ah-ming-ma-noona (Musk Ox Land). +Bring us some powder to blacken the bear's snout." +"Ka-ah, ka-ah," said the two ravens at once.</p> + +<p>Ah-we-lah began an appeal to drive off the bears +and to set the raven spirits as guardians of our blubber +caches. This was uttered in shrill shouts, and then, in +a low, trembling voice, he said: "Dry the tears of +mother's cheeks and tell her that we are in a land of +todnu (tallow)."</p> + +<p>"Ka-ah," replied the raven.</p> + +<p>"Then go to Ser-wah; tell her not to marry that +lazy gull, Ta-tamh; tell her that Ah-we-lah's skin is still +flushed with thoughts of her, that he is well and will +return to claim her in the first moon after sunrise." +"Ka-ah, ka-ah, ka-ah," said the raven, and rose as if to +deliver the messages.</p> + +<p>For the balance of that day we saw only three +ravens. The two had certainly started for the Greenland +shores. The other three, after an engorgement, rose +to their cave and went to sleep for the night as we +thought. No more was seen of them until the dawn of +day of the following year.</p> + +<p>A few days later we also made other acquaintances. +They were the most interesting bits of life that crossed +our trail, and in the dying effort to seek animal companionship +our soured tempers were sweetened somewhat +by four-footed joys.</p> + +<p>A noise had been heard for several successive days +at eleven o'clock. This was the time chosen by the bears +for their daily exercise along our foot-path, and we were +usually all awake with a knife or a lance in hand, not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span> +because there was any real danger, for our house +cemented by ice was as secure as a fort, but because +we felt more comfortable in a battle attitude. Through +the peep-hole we saw them marching up and down along +the foot-path tramped down by our daily spells of leg-stretching.</p> + +<p>They were feasting on the aroma of our foot-prints, +and when they left it was usually safe for us to venture +out. Noises, however, continued within the walls of the +den. It was evident that there was something alive at +close range.</p> + +<p>We were lonely enough to have felt a certain delight +in shaking hands even with bruin if the theft of +our blubber had not threatened the very foundation of +our existence. For in the night we could not augment +our supplies; and without fat, fire and water were impossible. +No! there was not room for man and bear at +Cape Sparbo. Without ammunition, however, we were +nearly helpless.</p> + +<p>But noises continued after bruin's steps came with +a decreasing metallic ring from distant snows. There +was a scraping and a scratching within the very walls +of our den. We had a neighbor and a companion. +Who, or what, could it be? We were kept in suspense +for some time. When all was quiet at the time which +we chose to call midnight, a little blue rat came out and +began to tear the bark from our willow lamp trimmer.</p> + +<p>I was on watch, awake, and punched E-tuk-i-shook +without moving my head. His eyes opened with surprise +on the busy rodent, and Ah-we-lah was kicked. +He turned over and the thing jumped into a rock +crevasse.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span></p> + +<p>The next day we risked the discomfort of bruin's +interview and dug up an abundance of willow roots for +our new tenant. These were arranged in appetizing +display and the rat came out very soon and helped himself, +but he permitted no familiarity. We learned to +love the creature, however, all the more because of its +shyness. By alternate jumps from the roots to seclusion +it managed to fill up with all it could carry. Then +it disappeared as suddenly as it came.</p> + +<p>In the course of two days it came back with a companion, +its mate. They were beautiful little creatures, +but little larger than mice. They had soft, fluffy fur of +a pearl blue color, with pink eyes. They had no tails. +Their dainty little feet were furred to the claw tips with +silky hair. They made a picture of animal delight +which really aroused us from stupor to little spasms of +enthusiasm. A few days were spent in testing our intentions. +Then they arranged a berth just above my +head and became steady boarders.</p> + +<p>Their confidence and trust flattered our vanity and +we treated them as royal guests. No trouble was too +great for us to provide them with suitable delicacies. +We ventured into the darkness and storms for hours to +dig up savory roots and mosses. A little stage was +arranged every day with the suitable footlights. In the +eagerness to prolong the rodent theatricals, the little +things were fed over and over, until they became too fat +and too lazy to creep from their berths.</p> + +<p>They were good, clean orderly camp fellows, always +kept in their places and never ventured to borrow our +bed furs, nor did they disturb our eatables. With a keen +sense of justice, and an aristocratic air, they passed our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span> +plates of carnivorous foods without venturing a taste, +and went to their herbivorous piles of sod delicacies. +About ten days before midnight they went to sleep and +did not wake for more than a month. Again we were +alone. Now even the bears deserted us.</p> + +<p>In the dull days of blankness which followed, few +incidents seemed to mark time. The cold increased. +Storms were more continuous and came with greater +force. We were cooped up in our underground den +with but a peep-hole through the silk of our old tent to +watch the sooty nocturnal bluster. We were face to +face with a spiritual famine. With little recreation, no +amusements, no interesting work, no reading matter, +with nothing to talk about, the six hours of a watch +were spread out to weeks.</p> + +<p>We had no sugar, no coffee, not a particle of civilized +food. We had meat and blubber, good and wholesome +food at that. But the stomach wearied of its +never changing carnivorous stuffing. The dark den, +with its walls of pelt and bone, its floor decked with +frosted tears of ice, gave no excuse for cheer. Insanity, +abject madness, could only be avoided by busy hands +and long sleep.</p> + +<p>My life in this underground place was, I suppose, +like that of a man in the stone age. The interior was +damp and cold and dark; with our pitiable lamps burning, +the temperature of the top was fairly moderate, +but at the bottom it was below zero. Our bed was a +platform of rocks wide enough for three prostrate men. +Its forward edge was our seat when awake. Before this +was a space where a deeper hole in the earth permitted +us to stand upright, one at a time. There, one by one,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span> +we dressed and occasionally stood to move our stiff and +aching limbs.</p> + +<p>On either side of this standing space was half a tin +plate in which musk-ox fat was burned. We used moss +as a wick. These lights were kept burning day and +night; it was a futile, imperceptible sort of heat they +gave. Except when we got close to the light, it was impossible +to see one another's faces.</p> + +<p>We ate twice daily—without enjoyment. We had +few matches, and in fear of darkness tended our lamps +diligently. There was no food except meat and tallow; +most of the meat, by choice, was eaten raw and frozen. +Night and morning we boiled a small pot of meat for +broth; but we had no salt to season it. Stooped and +cramped, day by day, I found occasional relief from the +haunting horror of this life by rewriting the almost illegible +notes made on our journey.</p> + +<p>My most important duty was the preparation of +my notes and observations for publication. This would +afford useful occupation and save months of time afterwards. +But I had no paper. My three note books were +full, and there remained only a small pad of prescription +blanks and two miniature memorandum books. I resolved, +however, to try to work out the outline of my +narrative in chapters in these. I had four good +pencils and one eraser. These served a valuable +purpose. With sharp points I shaped the words in small +letters. When the skeleton of the book was ready I +was surprised to find how much could be crowded on a +few small pages. By a liberal use of the eraser many +parts of pages were cleared of unnecessary notes. Entire +lines were written between all the lines of the note<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span> +books, the pages thus carrying two narrations or series +of notes.</p> + +<p>By the use of abbreviations and dashes, a kind of +short-hand was devised. My art of space economy complete, +I began to write, literally developing the very useful +habit of carefully shaping every idea before an attempt +was made to use the pencil. In this way my +entire book and several articles were written. Charts, +films and advertisement boxes were covered. In all +150,000 words were written, and absolute despair, which +in idleness opens the door to madness, was averted.</p> + +<p>Our needs were still urgent enough to enforce much +other work. Drift threatened to close the entrance to +our dungeon and this required frequent clearing. +Blubber for the lamp was sliced and pounded every day. +The meat corner was occasionally stocked, for it required +several days to thaw out the icy musk ox quarters. +Ice was daily gathered and placed within reach to keep +the water pots full. The frost which was condensed out +of our breaths made slabs of ice on the floor, and this required +occasional removal. The snow under our bed +furs, which had a similar origin, was brushed out now +and then.</p> + +<p>Soot from the lamps, a result of bad housekeeping, +which a proud Eskimo woman would not have tolerated +for a minute, was scraped from the bone rafters about +once a week. With a difference of one hundred degrees +between the breathing air of the den and that outside +there was a rushing interchanging breeze through every +pinhole and crevice. The ventilation was good. The +camp cleanliness could almost have been called hygienic, +although no baths had been indulged in for six months,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span> +and then only by an unavoidable, undesirable accident.</p> + +<p>Much had still to be done to prepare for our homegoing +in the remote period beyond the night. It was +necessary to plan and make a new equipment. The +sledge, the clothing, the camp outfit, everything which +had been used in the previous campaign, were worn out. +Something could be done by judicious repairing, but +nearly everything required reconstruction. In the new +arrangement we were to take the place of the dogs at +the traces and the sledge loads must be prepared accordingly. +There was before us an unknown line of trouble +for three hundred miles before we could step on Greenland +shores. It was only the hope of homegoing, which +gave some mental strength in the night of gloom. Musk +ox meat was now cut into strips and dried over the +lamps. Tallow was prepared and moulded in portable +form for fuel.</p> + +<p>But in spite of all efforts we gradually sank to the +lowest depths of the Arctic midnight. The little midday +glimmer on the southern sky became indiscernible. +Only the swing of the Great Dipper and other stars +told the time of the day or night. We had fancied that +the persistent wind ruffled our tempers. But now it was +still; not a breath of air moved the heavy blackness. In +that very stillness we found reasons for complaint. +Storms were preferable to the dead silence; anything +was desirable to stir the spirits to action.</p> + +<p>Still the silence was only apparent. Wind noises +floated in the frosty distance; cracking rocks, exploding +glaciers and tumbling avalanches kept up a muffled +rumbling which the ear detected only when it rested on +the floor rock of our bed. The temperature was low<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span>— +-48° F.—so low that at times the very air seemed to +crack. Every creature of the wild had been buried in +drift; all nature was asleep. In our dungeon all was a +mental blank.</p> + +<p>Not until two weeks after midnight did we awake +to a proper consciousness of life. The faint brightness +of the southern skies at noon opened the eye to spiritual +dawn. The sullen stupor and deathlike stillness vanished.</p> + +<p>Shortly after black midnight descended I began to +experience a curious psychological phenomenon. The +stupor of the days of travel wore away, and I began to +see myself as in a mirror. I can explain this no better. +It is said that a man falling from a great height usually +has a picture of his life flashed through his brain in the +short period of descent. I saw a similar cycle of events.</p> + +<p>The panorama began with incidents of childhood, +and it seems curious now with what infinite detail I saw +people whom I had long forgotten, and went through +the most trivial experiences. In successive stages every +phase of life appeared and was minutely examined; +every hidden recess of gray matter was opened to interpret +the biographies of self-analysis. The hopes of +my childhood and the discouragements of my youth +filled me with emotion; feelings of pleasure and sadness +came as each little thought picture took definite shape; +it seemed hardly possible that so many things, potent +for good and bad, could have been done in so few years. +I saw myself, not as a voluntary being, but rather as a +resistless atom, predestined in its course, being carried +on by an inexorable fate.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile our preparations for return were being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span> +accomplished. This work had kept us busy during all +of the wakeful spells of the night. Much still remained +to be done.</p> + +<p>Although real pleasure followed all efforts of +physical labor, the balking muscles required considerable +urging. Musk ox meat was cut into portable +blocks, candles were made, fur skins were dressed and +chewed, boots, stockings, pants, shirts, sleeping bags +were made. The sledge was re-lashed, things were +packed in bags. All was ready about three weeks before +sunrise. Although the fingers and the jaws were +thus kept busy, the mind and also the heart were left +free to wander.</p> + +<p>In the face of all our efforts to ward aside the ill +effects of the night we gradually became its victims. +Our skin paled, our strength failed, the nerves weakened, +and the mind ultimately became a blank. The +most notable physical effect, however, was the alarming +irregularity of the heart.</p> + +<p>In the locomotion of human machinery the heart is +the motor. Like all good motors it has a governor which +requires some adjustment. In the Arctic, where the +need of regulation is greatest, the facilities for adjustment +are withdrawn. In normal conditions, as the machine +of life pumps the blood which drives all, its force +and its regularity are governed by the never-erring sunbeams. +When these are withdrawn, as they are in the +long night, the heart pulsations become irregular; at +times slow, at other times spasmodic.</p> + +<p>Light seems to be as necessary to the animal as to +the plant. A diet of fresh meat, healthful hygienic surroundings, +play for the mind, recreation for the body,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span> +and strong heat from open fires, will help; but only the +return of the heaven-given sun will properly adjust the +motor of man.</p> + +<p>As the approaching day brightened to a few hours +of twilight at midday, we developed a mood for animal +companionship. A little purple was now thrown on +the blackened snows. The weather was good. All the +usual sounds of nature were suspended, but unusual +sounds came with a weird thunder. The very earth +began to shake in an effort to break the seal of frost. +For several days nothing moved into our horizon which +could be imagined alive.</p> + +<p>About two weeks before sunrise the rats woke and +began to shake their beautiful blue fur in graceful little +dances, but they were not really alive and awake in a +rat sense for several days. At about the same time the +ravens began to descend from their hiding place and +screamed for food. There were only three; two were +still conversing with the Eskimo maidens far away, as +my companions thought.</p> + +<p>In my subsequent strolls I found the raven den and +to my horror discovered that the two were frozen. I +did not deprive E-tuk-i-shook and Ah-we-lah of their +poetic dream; the sad news of raven bereavement was +never told.</p> + +<p>The foxes now began to bark from a safe distance +and advanced to get their share of the camp spoils. +Ptarmigan shouted from nearby rocks. Wolves were +heard away in the musk ox fields, but they did not +venture to pay us a visit.</p> + +<p>The bear that had shadowed us everywhere before +midnight was the last to claim our friendship at dawn.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span> +There were good reasons for this which we did not learn +until later. The bear stork had arrived. But really we +had changed heart even towards the bear. Long before +he returned we were prepared to give him a welcome +reception. In our new and philosophical turn of mind +we thought better of bruin. In our greatest distress +during the previous summer he had kept us alive. In +our future adventures he might perform a similar mission. +After all he had no sporting proclivities; he +did not hunt or trouble us for the mere fun of our discomfort +or the chase. His aim in life was the very +serious business of getting food. Could we blame him? +Had we not a similar necessity?</p> + +<p>A survey of our caches proved that we were still +rich in the coin of the land. There remained meat and +blubber sufficient for all our needs, with considerable +to spare for other empty stomachs. So, to feed the bear, +meat was piled up in heaps for his delight.</p> + +<p>The new aroma rose into the bleaching night air. +We peeped with eager eyes through our ports to spot +results. The next day at eleven o'clock footsteps were +heard. The noise indicated caution and shyness instead +of the bold quick step which we knew so well. There +was room for only one eye and only one man at a time +at the peep-hole, and so we took turns. Soon the bear +was sighted, proceeding with the utmost caution behind +some banks and rocks. The blue of the snows, with +yellow light, dyed his fur to an ugly green. He was +thin and gaunt and ghostly. There was the stealth and +the cunning of the fox in his movements. But he could +not get his breakfast, the first after a fast of weeks, +without coming squarely into our view.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span></p> + +<p>The den was buried under the winter snows and +did not disturb the creature, but the size of the pile of +meat did disturb its curiosity. When within twenty-five +yards, a few sudden leaps were made, and the ponderous +claws came down on a walrus shoulder. His teeth began +to grind like a stone cutter. For an hour the bear stood +there and displayed itself to good advantage. Our +hatred of the creature entirely vanished.</p> + +<p>Five days passed before that bear returned. In +the meantime we longed for it to come back. We had +unconsciously developed quite a brotherly bear interest. +In the period which followed we learned that eleven +o'clock was the hour, and that five days was the period +between meals. The bear calendar and the clock were +consulted with mathematical precision.</p> + +<p>We also learned that our acquaintance was a +parent. By a little exploration in February we discovered +the bear den, in a snow covered cave, less than +a mile west. In it were two saucy little teddies in +pelts of white silk that would have gladdened the heart +of any child. The mother was not at home at the time, +and we were not certain enough of her friendship, or +of her whereabouts, to play with the twins.</p> + +<p>With a clearing horizon and a wider circle of friendship +our den now seemed a cheerful home. Our spirits +awakened as the gloom of the night was quickly lost in +the new glitter of day.</p> + +<p>On the eleventh of February the snow-covered +slopes of North Devon glowed with the sunrise of 1909. +The sun had burst nature's dungeon. Cape Sparbo +glowed with golden light. The frozen sea glittered with +hills of shimmering lilac. We escaped to a joyous free<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span>dom. +With a reconstructed sled, new equipment and +newly acquired energy we were ready to pursue the +return journey to Greenland and fight the last battle of +the Polar campaign.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_470.jpg" width="640" height="321" alt="GUILLEMOT" title="" /> +<span class="caption">GUILLEMOT</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span></p> +<h2>HOMEWARD WITH A HALF SLEDGE AND +HALF-FILLED STOMACHS</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">THREE HUNDRED MILES THROUGH STORM AND SNOW AND +UPLIFTED MOUNTAINS OF ICE TROUBLES—DISCOVER +TWO ISLANDS—ANNOATOK IS REACHED—MEETING +HARRY WHITNEY—NEWS OF PEARY'S SEIZURE OF +SUPPLIES</p> + +<h3>XXIX<br /> + +<br /><span class="smcap">Back to Greenland Friends</span></h3> + + +<p>On February 18, 1908, the reconstructed sledge +was taken beyond the ice fort and loaded for the home +run. We had given up the idea of journeying to Lancaster +Sound to await the whalers. There were no +Eskimos on the American side nearer than Pond's Inlet. +It was somewhat farther to our headquarters on the +Greenland shores, but all interests would be best served +by a return to Annoatok.</p> + +<p>During the night we had fixed all of our attention +upon the return journey, and had prepared a new equipment +with the limited means at our command; but, traveling +in the coldest season of the year, it was necessary +to carry a cumbersome outfit of furs, and furthermore, +since we were to take the place of the dogs in the traces, +we could not expect to transport supplies for more than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span> +thirty days. In this time, however, we hoped to reach +Cape Sabine, where the father of E-tuk-i-shook had +been told to place a cache of food for us.</p> + +<p>Starting so soon after sunrise, the actual daylight +proved very brief, but a brilliant twilight gave a remarkable +illumination from eight to four. The light of +dawn and that of the afterglow was tossed to and fro in +the heavens, from reflecting surfaces of glitter, for four +hours preceding and following midday. To use this +play of light to the best advantage, it was necessary to +begin preparations early by starlight; and thus, when +the dim purple glow from the northeast brightened the +dull gray-blue of night, the start was made for Greenland +shores and for home.</p> + +<p>We were dressed in heavy furs. The temperature +was -49°. A light air brushed the frozen mist out of +Jones Sound, and cut our sooty faces. The sled was +overloaded, and the exertion required for its movement +over the groaning snow was tremendous. A false, +almost hysterical, enthusiasm lighted our faces, but the +muscles were not yet equal to the task set for them.</p> + +<p>Profuse perspiration came with the first hours of +dog work, and our heavy fur coats were exchanged for +the sealskin <i>nitshas</i> (lighter coat). At noon the snows +were fired and the eastern skies burned in great lines of +flame. But there was no sun and no heat. We sat on +the sledge for a prolonged period, gasping for breath +and drinking the new celestial glory so long absent from +our outlook. As the joy of color was lost in the cold +purple of half-light, our shoulders were braced more +vigorously into the traces. The ice proved good, but +the limit of strength placed camp in a snowhouse ten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span> +miles from our winter den. With the new equipment, +our camp life now was not like that of the Polar campaign. +Dried musk ox meat and strips of musk fat +made a steady diet. Moulded tallow served as fuel in +a crescent-shaped disk of tin, in which carefully prepared +moss was crushed and arranged as a wick. Over +this primitive fire we managed to melt enough ice to +quench thirst, and also to make an occasional pot of +broth as a luxury. While the drink was liquefying, the +chill of the snow igloo was also moderated, and we +crept into the bags of musk ox skins, where agreeable +repose and home dreams made us forget the cry of the +stomach and the torment of the cold.</p> + +<p>At the end of eight days of forced marches we +reached Cape Tennyson. The disadvantage of manpower, +when compared to dog motive force, was clearly +shown in this effort. The ice was free of pressure troubles +and the weather was endurable. Still, with the best +of luck, we had averaged only about seven miles daily. +With dogs, the entire run would have been made easily +in two days.</p> + +<p>As we neared the land two small islands were discovered. +Both were about one thousand feet high, with +precipitous sea walls, and were on a line about two miles +east of Cape Tennyson. The most easterly was about +one and a half miles long, east to west, with a cross-section, +north to south, of about three-quarters of a mile. +About half a mile to the west of this was a much smaller +island. There was no visible vegetation, and no life was +seen, although hare and fox tracks were crossed on the +ice. I decided to call the larger island E-tuk-i-shook, +and the smaller Ah-we-lah. These rocks will stand as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span> +monuments to the memory of my faithful savage comrades +when all else is forgotten.</p> + +<p>From Cape Tennyson to Cape Isabella the coast of +Ellesmere Land was charted, in the middle of the last +century, by ships at a great distance from land. Little +has been added since. The wide belt of pack thrown +against the coast made further exploration from the +ship very difficult, but in our northward march over the +sea-ice it was hoped that we might keep close enough to +the shores to examine the land carefully.</p> + +<p>A few Eskimos had, about fifty years previously, +wandered along this ice from Pond's Inlet to the Greenland +camps. They left the American shores because +famine, followed by forced cannibalism, threatened to +exterminate the tribe. A winter camp had been placed +on Coburg Island. Here many walruses and bears were +secured during the winter, while in summer, from Kent +Island, many guillemots were secured. In moving +from these northward, by skin boat and <i>kayak</i>, they +noted myriads of guillemots, or "acpas," off the southeast +point of the mainland. There being no name in +the Eskimo vocabulary for this land, it was called Acpohon, +or "The Home of Guillemots." The Greenland +Eskimos had previously called the country "Ah-ming-mah +Noona," or Musk Ox Land, but they also adopted +the name of Acpohon, so we have taken the liberty of +spreading the name over the entire island as a general +name for the most northern land west of Greenland. +In pushing northward, many of the Eskimos starved, +and the survivors had a bitter fight for subsistence. Our +experience was similar.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 540px;"> +<img src="images/illo_475.jpg" width="540" height="800" alt="PUNCTURED CANVAS BOAT IN WHIH WE PADDLED 1,000 MILES +FAMINE DAYS WHEN ONLY STRAY BIRDS PREVENTED STARVATION +DEN IN WHICH WERE SPENT 100 DOUBLE NIGHTS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">PUNCTURED CANVAS BOAT IN WHIH WE PADDLED 1,000 MILES<br /> +FAMINE DAYS WHEN ONLY STRAY BIRDS PREVENTED STARVATION<br /> +DEN IN WHICH WERE SPENT 100 DOUBLE NIGHTS</span> +</div> + +<p>Near Cape Paget those ancient Eskimos made a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span> +second winter camp. Here narwhals and bears were +secured, and through Talbot's Fiord a short pass was +discovered over Ellesmere Land to the musk ox country +of the west shores. The Eskimos who survived the second +winter reached the Greenland shores during the +third summer. There they introduced the <i>kayak</i>, and +also the bow and arrow. Their descendants are to-day +the most intelligent of the most northern Eskimos.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 536px;"> +<img src="images/illo_476.jpg" width="536" height="800" alt="BULL FIGHTS WITH THE MUSK OX ABOUT CAPE SPARBO" title="" /> +<span class="caption">BULL FIGHTS WITH THE MUSK OX ABOUT CAPE SPARBO</span> +</div> + + +<p>To my companions the environment of the new +land which we were passing was in the nature of digging +up ancient history. Several old camp sites were located, +and E-tuk-i-shook, whose grandfather was one of +the old pioneers, was able to tell us the incidents of each +camp with remarkable detail.</p> + +<p>As a rule, however, it was very difficult to get near +the land. Deep snows, huge pressure lines of ice, and +protruding glaciers forced our line of march far from +the Eskimo ruins which we wished to examine. +From Cape Tennyson to Cape Clarence the ice near the +open water proved fairly smooth, but the humid saline +surface offered a great resistance to the metal plates of +the sled. Here ivory or bone plates would have lessened +the friction very much. A persistent northerly +wind also brought the ice and the humid discomfort of +our breath back to our faces with painful results. During +several days of successive storms we were imprisoned +in the domes of snow. By enforced idleness we +were compelled to use a precious store of food and fuel, +without making any necessary advance.</p> + +<p>Serious difficulties were encountered in moving +from Cape Clarence to Cape Faraday. Here the ice +was tumbled into mountains of trouble. Tremendous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span> +snowdrifts and persistent gales from the west made +traveling next to impossible, and, with no game and no +food supply in prospect, I knew that to remain idle +would be suicidal. The sledge load was lightened, and +every scrap of fur which was not absolutely necessary +was thrown away. The humid boots, stockings and +sealskin coats could not be dried out, for fuel was more +precious than clothing. All of this was discarded, and, +with light sleds and reduced rations, we forced along +over hummocks and drift. In all of our Polar march +we had seen no ice which offered so much hardship as +did this so near home shores. The winds again cut +gashes across our faces. With overwork and insufficient +food, our furs hung on bony eminences over shriveled +skins.</p> + +<p>At the end of thirty-five days of almost ceaseless +toil we managed to reach Cape Faraday. Our food +was gone. We were face to face with the most desperate +problem which had fallen to our long run of hard +luck. Famine confronted us. We were far from the +haunts of game; we had seen no living thing for a +month. Every fiber of our bodies quivered with cold +and hunger. In desperation we ate bits of skin and +chewed tough walrus lines. A half candle and three +cups of hot water served for several meals. Some +tough walrus hide was boiled and eaten with relish. +While trying to masticate this I broke some of my teeth. +It was hard on the teeth, but easy on the stomach, and +it had the great advantage of dispelling for prolonged +periods the pangs of hunger. But only a few strips of +walrus line were left after this was used.</p> + +<p>Traveling, as we must, in a circuitous route, there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span> +was still a distance of one hundred miles between us and +Cape Sabine, and the distance to Greenland might, by +open water, be spread to two hundred miles. This unknown +line of trouble could not be worked out in less +than a month. Where, I asked in desperation, were we +to obtain subsistence for that last thirty days?</p> + +<p>To the eastward, a line of black vapors indicated +open water about twenty-five miles off shore. There +were no seals on the ice. There were no encouraging +signs of life; only old imprints of bears and foxes were +left on the surface of the cheerless snows at each camp. +For a number of days we had placed our last meat as +bait to attract the bears, but none had ventured to pay +us a visit. The offshore wind and the nearness of the +open water gave us some life from this point.</p> + +<p>Staggering along one day, we suddenly saw a bear +track. These mute marks, seen in the half-dark of the +snow, filled us with a wild resurgence of hope for life. +On the evening of March 20 we prepared cautiously for +the coming of the bear.</p> + +<p>A snowhouse was built, somewhat stronger than +usual; before it a shelf was arranged with blocks of +snow, and on this shelf attractive bits of skin were +arranged to imitate the dark outline of a recumbent +seal. Over this was placed a looped line, through which +the head and neck must go in order to get the bait. +Other loops were arranged to entangle the feet. All +the lines were securely fastened to solid ice. Peepholes +were cut in all sides of the house, and a rear port was cut, +from which we might escape or make an attack. Our +lances and knives were now carefully sharpened. When +all was ready, one of us remained on watch while the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span> +others sought a needed sleep. We had not long to +wait. Soon a crackling sound on the snows gave the +battle call, and with a little black nose extended from a +long neck, a vicious creature advanced.</p> + +<p>Through our little eye-opening and to our empty +stomach he appeared gigantic. Apparently as hungry +as we were, he came in straight reaches for the bait. +The run port was opened. Ah-we-lah and E-tuk-i-shook +emerged, one with a lance, the other with a spiked +harpoon shaft. Our lance, our looped line, our bow +and arrow, I knew, however, would be futile.</p> + +<p>During the previous summer, when I foresaw a +time of famine, I had taken my four last cartridges and +hid them in my clothing. Of the existence of these, the +two boys knew nothing. These were to be used at the +last stage of hunger, to kill something—or ourselves. +That desperate time had not arrived till now.</p> + +<p>The bear approached in slow, measured steps, +smelling the ground where the skin lay.</p> + +<p>I jerked the line. The loop tightened about the +bear's neck. At the same moment the lance and the +spike were driven into the growling creature.</p> + +<p>A fierce struggle ensued. I withdrew one of the +precious cartridges from my pocket, placed it in my +gun, and gave the gun to Ah-we-lah, who took aim +and fired. When the smoke cleared, the bleeding bear +lay on the ground.</p> + +<p>We skinned the animal, and devoured the warm, +steaming flesh. Strength revived. Here were food +and fuel in abundance. We were saved! With the +success of this encounter, we could sit down and live +comfortably for a month; and before that time should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg 433]</a></span> +elapse seals would seek the ice for sun baths, and when +seals arrived, the acquisition of food for the march to +Greenland would be easy.</p> + +<p>But we did not sit down. Greenland was in sight; +and, to an Eskimo, Greenland, with all of its icy discomforts, +has attractions not promised in heaven. In +this belief, as in most others, I was Eskimo by this time. +With very little delay, the stomach was spread with +chops, and we stretched to a gluttonous sleep, only to +awake with appetites that permitted of prolonged stuffing. +It was a matter of economy to fill up and thus +make the sled load lighter. When more eating was +impossible we began to move for home shores, dragging +a sled overloaded with the life-saving prize.</p> + +<p>A life of trouble, however, lay before us. Successive +storms, mountains of jammed ice, and deep +snow, interrupted our progress and lengthened the +course over circuitous wastes of snowdrifts and blackened +our horizon. When, after a prodigious effort, +Cape Sabine was reached, our food supply was again +exhausted.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[Pg 434]</a></span>Here an old seal was found. It had been caught +a year before and cached by Pan-ic-pa, the father of +E-tuk-i-shook. With it was found a rude drawing +spotted with sooty tears. This told the story of a loving +father's fruitless search for his son and friends. +The seal meat had the aroma of Limburger cheese, and +age had changed its flavor; but, with no other food possible, +our palates were easily satisfied. In an oil-soaked +bag was found about a pound of salt. We ate this as +sugar, for no salt had passed over our withered tongues +for over a year.</p> + +<p>The skin, blubber and meat were devoured with a +relish. Every eatable part of the animal was packed on +the sled as we left the American shore.</p> + +<p>Smith Sound was free of ice, and open water extended +sixty miles northward. A long detour was necessary +to reach the opposite shores, but the Greenland +shores were temptingly near. With light hearts and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[Pg 435]</a></span> +cheering premonitions of home, we pushed along Bache +Peninsula to a point near Cape Louis Napoleon. The +horizon was now cleared of trouble. The ascending sun +had dispelled the winter gloom of the land. Leaping +streams cut through crystal gorges. The ice moved; +the sea began to breathe. The snows sparkled with the +promise of double days and midnight suns.</p> + +<p>Life's buds had opened to full blossom. On the +opposite shores, which now seemed near, Nature's incubators +had long worked overtime to start the little ones +of the wilds. Tiny bears danced to their mothers' call; +baby seals sunned in downy pelts. Little foxes were +squinting at school in learning the art of sight. In the +wave of germinating joys our suppressed nocturnal +passions rose with surprise anew. We were raised to +an Arctic paradise.</p> + +<p>As it lay in prospect, Greenland had the charm of +Eden. There were the homes of my savage companions. +It was a stepping-stone to my home, still very +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[Pg 436]</a></span>far off. It was a land where man has a fighting chance +for his life.</p> + +<p>In reality, we were now in the most desperate +throes of the grip of famine which we had encountered +during all of our hard experience. Greenland was but +thirty miles away. But we were separated from it by +impossible open water—a hopeless stormy deep. To +this moment I do not know why we did not sit down and +allow the blood to cool with famine and cold. We had +no good reason to hope that we could cross, but again +hope—"the stuff that goes to make dreams"—kept our +eyes open.</p> + +<p>We started. We were as thin as it is possible for +men to be. The scraps of meat, viscera, and skin of the +seal, buried for a year, was now our sole diet. We traveled +the first two days northward over savage uplifts of +hummocks and deep snows, tripping and stumbling over +blocks of ice like wounded animals. Then we reached +good, smooth ice, but open water forced us northward, +ever northward from the cheering cliffs under which our +Greenland homes and abundant supplies were located. +No longer necessary to lift the feet, we dragged the ice-sheeted +boots step after step over smooth young ice. +This eased our tired, withered legs, and long distances +were covered. The days were prolonged, the decayed +seal food ran low, water was almost impossible. Life +no longer seemed worth living. We had eaten the +strips of meat and frozen seal cautiously. We had +eaten other things—our very boots and leather lashings +as a last resort.</p> + +<p>So weak that we had to climb on hands and knees, +we reached the top of an iceberg, and from there saw<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[Pg 437]</a></span> +Annoatok. Natives, who had thought us long dead, +rushed out to greet us. There I met Mr. Harry Whitney. +As I held his hand, the cheer of a long-forgotten +world came over me. With him I went to my house, +only to find that during my absence it had been confiscated. +A sudden bitterness rose within which it was +difficult to hide. A warm meal dispelled this for a time.</p> + +<p>In due time I told Whitney: "I have reached the +Pole."</p> + +<p>Uttering this for the first time in English, it came +upon me that I was saying a remarkable thing. Yet +Mr. Whitney showed no great surprise, and his quiet +congratulation confirmed what was in my mind—that I +had accomplished no extraordinary or unbelievable +thing; for to me the Polar experience was not in the +least remarkable, considered with our later adventures.</p> + +<p>Mr. Whitney, as is now well known, was a sportsman +from New Haven, Connecticut, who had been +spending some months hunting in the North. He had +made Annoatok the base of his operations, and had been +spending the winter in the house which I had built of +packing-boxes.</p> + +<p>The world now seemed brighter. The most potent +factor in this change was food—and more food—a bath +and another bath—and clean clothes. Mr. Whitney +offered me unreservedly the hospitality of my own +camp. He instructed Pritchard to prepare meal after +meal of every possible dish that our empty stomachs had +craved for a year. The Eskimo boys were invited to +share it.</p> + +<p>Between meals, or perhaps we had better call meals +courses (for it was a continuous all-night perform<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[Pg 438]</a></span>ance—interrupted +by baths and breathing spells to prevent +spasms of the jaws)—between courses, then, there +were washes with real soap and real cleansing warm +water, the first that we had felt for fourteen months. +Mr. Whitney helped to scrape my angular anatomy, +and he volunteered the information that I was the +dirtiest man he ever saw.</p> + +<p>From Mr. Whitney I learned that Mr. Peary had +reached Annoatok about the middle of August, 1908, +and had placed a boatswain named Murphy, assisted +by William Pritchard, a cabin boy on the <i>Roosevelt</i>, in +charge of my stores, which he had seized. Murphy was +anything but tactful and considerate; and in addition to +taking charge of my goods, had been using them in trading +as money to pay for furs to satisfy Mr. Peary's +hunger for commercial gain. Murphy went south in +pursuit of furs after my arrival.</p> + +<p>For the first few days I was too weak to inquire +into the theft of my camp and supplies. Furthermore, +with a full stomach, and Mr. Whitney as a warm friend +at hand, I was indifferent. I was not now in any great +need. For by using the natural resources of the land, as +I had done before, it was possible to force a way back +to civilization from here with the aid of my Eskimo +friends.</p> + +<p>Little by little, however, the story of that very +strange "Relief Station for Dr. Cook" was unraveled, +and I tell it here with no ulterior notion of bitterness +against Mr. Peary. I forgave him for the practical +theft of my supplies; but this is a very important part of +the controversy which followed, a controversy which +can be understood only by a plain statement of the inci<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[Pg 439]</a></span>dents +which led up to and beyond this so-called "Relief +Station for Dr. Cook," which was a relief only in the +sense that I was relieved of a priceless store of supplies.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Peary heard of the execution of my +plans to try for the Pole in 1907, and before he left +on his last expedition, he accused me of various violations +of what he chose to call "Polar Ethics." No application +had been filed by me to seek the Pole. Now I +was accused of stealing his route, his Pole, and his people. +This train of accusations was given to the press, +and with the greatest possible publicity. A part of this +was included in an official complaint to the International +Bureau of Polar Research at Brussels.</p> + +<p>Now, what are Polar ethics? There is no separate +code for the Arctic. The laws which govern men's +bearing towards each other in New York are good in +any part of the world. One cannot be a democrat in +civilized eyes and an autocrat in the savage world. One +cannot cry, "Stop thief!" and then steal the thief's +booty. If you are a member of the brotherhood of +humanity in one place, you must be in another. In +short, he who is a gentleman in every sense of the word +needs no memory for ethics. It is only the modern +political reformer who has need of the cloak of the +hypocrisy of ethics to hide his own misdeeds. An explorer +should not stoop to this.</p> + +<p>Who had the power to grant a license to seek the +Pole? If you wish to invade the forbidden regions of +Thibet, or the interior of Siberia, a permit is necessary +from the governments interested. But the Pole is a +place no nation owned, by right of discovery, occupation, +or otherwise.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[Pg 440]</a></span></p> + +<p>If pushing a ship up the North Atlantic waters to +the limit of navigation was a trespass on Mr. Peary's +preserve, then I am bound to plead guilty. But ships +had gone that way for a hundred years before Mr. +Peary developed a Polar claim. If I am guilty, then +he is guilty of stealing the routes of Davis, Kane, +Greely and a number of others. But as I view the situation, +a modern explorer should take a certain pride +in the advantages afforded by his worthy predecessors. +I take a certain historic delight in having followed the +routes of the early pathfinders to a more remote destination. +This indebtedness and this honor I do now, as +heretofore, acknowledge. The charge that I stole Mr. +Peary's route is incorrect. For, from the limit of navigation +on the Greenland side, my track was forced over +a land which, although under Mr. Peary's eyes for +twenty years, was explored by Sverdrup, who got the +same unbrotherly treatment from Mr. Peary which he +has shown to every explorer who has had the misfortune +to come within the circle he has drawn about an imaginary +private preserve.</p> + +<p>The charge of borrowing Peary's ideas, by which +is meant the selection of food and supplies and the adoption +of certain methods of travel, is equally unfounded. +For Mr. Peary's weakest chain is his absolute lack of +system, order, preparation or originality. This is +commented upon by the men of every one of his previous +expeditions. Mr. Peary early charged that my +system of work and my methods of travel were borrowed +from him. This was not true; but when he later, in a +desperate effort to say unkind things, said that my system—the +system borrowed from himself—was ineffi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[Pg 441]</a></span>cient, +the charge becomes laughable. As to the Pole—if +Mr. Peary has a prior lien on it—it is there still. We +did not take it away. We simply left our footprints +there.</p> + +<p>Now as to the charge of using Mr. Peary's supplies +and his people—by assuming a private preserve of +all the reachable Polar wilderness of this section, he +might put up a plausible claim to it as a private hunting +ground. If this claim is good, then I am guilty of +trespass. But it was only done to satisfy the pangs of +hunger.</p> + +<p>This claim of the ownership of the animals of the +unclaimed North might be put with plausible excuses +to The Hague Tribunal. But it is a claim no serious +person would consider. The same claim of ownership, +however, cannot be said of human life.</p> + +<p>The Eskimos are a free and independent people. +They acknowledge no chiefs among themselves and +submit to no outside dictators. They are likely to +call an incoming stranger "nalegaksook," which the +vanity of the early travelers interpreted as the "great +chief." But the intended interpretation is "he who has +much to barter" or "the great trader." This is what +they call Mr. Peary. The same compliment is given to +other traders, whalers or travelers with whom they do +business. Despite his claims Mr. Peary has been regarded +as no more of a benefactor than any other +explorer.</p> + +<p>After delivering, early in 1907, an unreasonable +and uncalled for attack, Mr. Peary, two months after +the Pole had been reached by me, went North +with two ships, with all the advantage that unlimited<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[Pg 442]</a></span> +funds and influential friends could give. At about the +same time my companion, Rudolph Francke, started +south under my instructions, and he locked my box-house +at Annoatok wherein were stored supplies sufficient +for two years or more.</p> + +<p>The key was entrusted to a trustworthy Eskimo. +Under his protection this precious life-saving supply +was safe for an indefinite time. With it no relief expedition +or help from the outside world was necessary.</p> + +<p>Francke had a hard time as he pushed southward, +with boat and sledge. Moving supplies to the limit of +his carrying capacity, he fought bravely against storms, +broken ice and thundering seas. The route proved all +but impossible, but at last his destination at North Star +was reached, only for him to find that he was too late +for the whalers he had expected. Impossible to return +to our northern camp at that time, and having used all +of his civilized food en route, he was now compelled to +accept the hospitality of the natives, in their unhygienic +dungeons. For food there was nothing but the semi-putrid +meat and blubber eaten by the Eskimos. +After a long and desperate task by boat and sled he +returned to Etah but he was absolutely unable to proceed +farther. Francke's health failed rapidly and when, +as he thought, the time had arrived to lay down and quit +life, a big prosperous looking ship came into the harbor. +He had not tasted civilized food for months, and longed, +as only a sick, hungry man can, for coffee and bread.</p> + +<p>Almost too weak to arise from his couch of stones, +he mustered up enough strength to stumble over the +rails of that ship of plenty. After gathering sufficient +breath to speak, he asked for bread and coffee. It was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[Pg 443]</a></span> +breakfast time. No answer came to that appeal. He +was put off the ship. He went back to his cheerless +cave and prayed that death might close his eyes to +further trouble. Somewhat later, when it was learned +that there was a house and a large store of supplies at +Annoatok, and that the man had in his possession furs +and ivory valued at $10,000, there was a change of heart +in Mr. Peary. Francke was called on board, was given +bread and coffee and whiskey. Too weak to resist, he +was bullied and frightened, and forced under duress to +sign papers which he did not understand. To get home +to him meant life; to remain meant death. And the ship +before him was thus his only chance for life. Under the +circumstances he would naturally have put his name to +any paper placed under his feeble eyes. But the law of +no land would enforce such a document.</p> + +<p>In this way Mr. Peary compelled him to turn over +$10,000 worth of furs and ivory, besides my station and +supplies, worth at least $35,000, which were not his to +turn over. The prized ivory tusks and furs were immediately +seized and sent back on the returning ship.</p> + +<p>One of the narwhal tusks, worth to me at least +$1,000, was polished and sent as Peary's trophy to +President Roosevelt. Under the circumstances has not +the President been made the recipient of stolen goods?</p> + +<p>When Francke, as a passenger, returned on the +Peary supply ship, <i>Erik</i>, a bill of one hundred dollars +was presented for his passage. This bill was presumably +the bill for the full cost of his return. But the +priceless furs and ivory trophies were confiscated without +a murmur of conscious wrongdoing. This is what +happened as the ship went south.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[Pg 444]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now let us follow the ship <i>Roosevelt</i> in its piratic +career northward. With Mr. Peary as chief it got to +Etah. From there instructions were given to seize my +house and supplies. This was done over the signature +of Mr. Peary to a paper which started out with the +following shameless hypocrisy:</p> + +<p>"This is a relief station for Dr. Cook."</p> + +<p>According to Mr. Whitney even Captain Bartlett +quivered with indignation at the blushing audacity of +this steal. The stores were said to be abandoned. The +men, with Peary's orders, went to Koo-loo-ting-wah and +forced from him the key with which to open the carefully +guarded stores. The house was reconstructed.</p> + +<p>Murphy, a rough Newfoundland bruiser, who had +been accustomed to kick sailors, was placed in charge +with autocratic powers. Murphy could neither read +nor write, but he was given a long letter of instruction +to make a trading station of my home and to use my +supplies.</p> + +<p>Now if Mr. Peary required my supplies for legitimate +exploration I should have been glad to give him +my last bread; but to use my things to satisfy his greed +for commercial gain was, when I learned it, bitter +medicine.</p> + +<p>Because Murphy could not write, Pritchard was +left with him to read the piratic instructions once each +week. Pritchard was also to keep account of the furs +bought and the prices paid—mostly in my coin. Murphy +soon forbade the reading of the instructions, and +also stopped the stock-taking and bookkeeping. The +hypocrisy of the thing seemed to pinch even Murphy's +narrow brain.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[Pg 445]</a></span></p> + +<p>This same deliberate Murphy, accustomed to life in +barracks, held the whip for a year over the head of Harry +Whitney, a man of culture and millions. Money, however, +was of no use there. Audacity and self-assumed +power, it seems, ruled as it did in times of old when +buccaneers deprived their victims of gold, and walked +them off a plank into the briny deep.</p> + +<p>Murphy and Pritchard, the paid traders, fixed +themselves cosily in my camp. Mr. Whitney had been +invited as a guest to stay and hunt for his own pleasure. +The party lived for a year at my expense, but the lot of +Whitney was very hard as an invited guest, a privilege +for which I was told he had paid Mr. Peary two thousand +dollars or more. His decision to stay had come only +after a disappointment in a lack of success of hunting +during the summer season. He was, therefore, ill-provided +for the usual Polar hardships. With no food, +and no adequate clothing of his own, he was dependent +on the dictates of Murphy to supply him. As time +went on, the night with its awful cold advanced. Murphy +gathered in all the furs and absolutely prohibited +Whitney from getting suitable furs for winter clothing. +He, therefore, shivered throughout the long winter in +his sheepskin shooting outfit. Several times he was at +the point of a hand-to-hand encounter with Murphy, +but with young Pritchard as a friend and gentlemanly +instincts to soften his manner, he grit his teeth and +swallowed the insults.</p> + +<p>His ambition for a hunting trip was frustrated +because it interfered with Murphy's plans for trading in +skins. The worst and most brutal treatment was the +almost inconceivable cruelty of his not allowing Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[Pg 446]</a></span> +Whitney enough food for a period of months, not even +of my supplies, although this food was used eventually +to feed useless dogs.</p> + +<p>All of this happened under Mr. Peary's authority, +and under the coarse, swaggering Murphy, whom Mr. +Peary, in his book, calls "a thoroughly trustworthy +man!" Mr. Peary's later contention, in a hypocritical +effort to clear himself (see "The North Pole," page 76) +that he placed Murphy in charge "to prevent the +Eskimos from looting the supplies and equipment left +there by Dr. Cook," is a mean, petty and unworthy slur +upon a brave, loyal people, among whom thievery is a +thing unknown. Unknown, yes, save when white men +without honor, without respect for property or the +ethics of humanity, which the Eskimos instinctively +have, invade their region and rob them and fellow explorers +with the brazenness of middle-aged buccaneers.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[Pg 447]</a></span></p> +<h2>ANNOATOK TO UPERNAVIK</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">ELEVEN HUNDRED MILES SOUTHWARD OVER SEA AND +LAND—AT ETAH—OVERLAND TO THE WALRUS +GROUNDS—ESKIMO COMEDIES AND TRAGEDIES—A +RECORD RUN OVER MELVILLE BAY—FIRST NEWS FROM +PASSING SHIPS—THE ECLIPSE OF THE SUN—SOUTHWARD +BY STEAMER GODTHAAB</p> + +<h3>XXX<br /> + +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Along Danish Greenland</span></h3> + + +<p>A few interesting days were spent with Mr. Whitney +at Annoatok. The Eskimos, in the meantime, had +all gone south to the walrus hunting grounds at Nuerke. +Koo-loo-ting-wah came along with a big team of dogs. +Here was an opportunity to attempt to reach the Danish +settlements—for to get home quickly was now my all-absorbing +aim. Koo-loo-ting-wah was in my service. +He was guarding my supplies in 1908 when the ship +<i>Roosevelt</i> had come along. He had been compelled to +give up the key to my box-house. He had been engaged +to place supplies for us and search the American shores +for our rescue. Peary, making a pretended "Relief +Station," forced Koo-loo-ting-wah from his position as +guardian of my supplies, and forbade him to engage in +any effort to search for us, and absolutely prohibited<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[Pg 448]</a></span> +him and everybody else, including Murphy, Prichard +and Whitney, from engaging in any kind of succor at a +time when help was of consequence. Koo-loo-ting-wah +was liberally paid to abandon my interests (by Mr. +Peary's orders, from my supplies), but, like Bartlett +and Whitney and Prichard later, he condemned Mr. +Peary for his unfair acts. When asked to join me in +the long journey to Upernavik, he said, "<i>Peari an-nutu</i>" +(Peary will be mad.) Koo-loo-ting-wah was +now in Peary's service at my expense, and I insisted that +he enter my service, which he did. Then we began our +preparations for the southern trip.</p> + +<p>Accompanied by Whitney, I went to Etah, and for +this part of the journey Murphy grudgingly gave me a +scant food supply for a week, for which I gave him a +memorandum. This memorandum was afterwards +published by Mr. Peary as a receipt, so displayed as to +convey the idea that all the stolen supplies had been +replaced.</p> + +<p>At Etah was a big cache which had been left a +year before by Captain Bernier, the commander of a +northern expedition sent out by the Canadian Government, +and which had been placed in charge +of Mr. Whitney. In this cache were food, new equipment, +trading material, and clean underclothes which +Mrs. Cook had sent on the Canadian expedition. With +this new store of suitable supplies, I now completed my +equipment for the return to civilization.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">[Pg 449]</a></span>To get home quickly, I concluded, could be done +best by going to the Danish settlements in Greenland, +seven hundred miles south, and thence to Europe by an +early steamer. From Upernavik mail is carried in +small native boats to Umanak, where there is direct +communication with Europe by government steamers. +By making this journey, and taking a fast boat to +America, I calculated I could reach New York in early +July.</p> + +<p>Mr. Whitney expected the <i>Erik</i> to arrive to take +him south in the following August. Going, as he +planned, into Hudson Bay, he expected to reach New +York in October. Although this would be the easiest +and safest way to reach home, by the route I had planned +I hoped to reach New York four months earlier than the +<i>Erik</i> would.</p> + +<p>The journey from Etah to Upernavik is about +seven hundred miles—a journey as long and nearly as +difficult as the journey to the North Pole. I knew it +involved difficulties and risks—the climbing of mountains +and glaciers, the crossing of open leads of water +late in the season, when the ice is in motion and snow is +falling, and the dragging of sledges through slush and +water.</p> + +<p>Mr. Whitney, in view of these dangers, offered to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">[Pg 450]</a></span> +take care of my instruments, notebooks and flag, and +take them south on his ship. I knew that if any food +were lost on my journey it might be replaced by game. +Instruments lost in glaciers or open seas could not be +replaced. The instruments, moreover, had served their +purposes. The corrections, notes, and other data were +also no longer needed; all my observations had been reduced, +and the corrections were valuable only for a +future re-examination. This is why I did not take them +with me. It is customary, also, to leave corrections with +instruments.</p> + +<p>In the box which I gave to Mr. Whitney were +packed one French sextant; one surveying compass, +aluminum, with azimuth attachment; one artificial horizon, +set in a thin metal frame adjusted by spirit levels +and thumbscrews; one aneroid barometer, aluminum; +one aluminum case with maximum and minimum spirit +thermometer; other thermometers, and also one liquid +compass. All of these I had carried with me.</p> + +<p>Besides these were left other instruments used about +the relief station. There were papers giving instrumental +corrections, readings, comparisons, and other +notes; a small diary, mostly of loose leaves, containing +some direct field readings, and meteorological data. +These were packed in one of the instrument cases. By +special request of Mr. Whitney, I also left my flag.</p> + +<p>In addition, I placed in Mr. Whitney's charge several +big cases of clothing and supplies which Mrs. +Cook had sent, also ethnological collections, furs, and +geological specimens. In one of these boxes were +packed the instrument cases and notes.</p> + +<p>Mr. Whitney's plans later were changed. His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">[Pg 451]</a></span> +ship, the <i>Erik</i>, not having arrived when Peary returned, +Whitney arranged with Peary to come back to civilization +on the latter's ship, the <i>Roosevelt</i>. As I learned +afterwards, when the <i>Roosevelt</i> arrived Mr. Whitney +took from one of my packing boxes my instruments and +packed them in his trunk. He was, however, prohibited +from carrying my things, and all my belongings +were consequently left at the mercy of the weather +and the natives in far-off Greenland. I have had no +means of hearing from them since, so that I do not +know what has become of them.</p> + +<p>About Etah and Annoatok and on my eastward +journey few notes were made. As well as I can remember, +I left Annoatok some time during the third week of +April. On leaving Whitney, I promised to send him +dogs and guides for his prospective hunting trip. I also +promised to get for him furs for a suitable winter suit—because, +according to Mr. Peary's autocratic methods, +he had been denied the privilege of trading for himself. +He was not allowed to gather trophies, or to purchase +absolutely necessary furs, nor was he accorded the courtesy +of arranging for guides and dogs with the natives +for his ambition to get big game. All of this I was to +arrange for Whitney as I passed the villages farther +south.</p> + +<p>In crossing by the overland route, over Crystal +Palace Glacier to Sontag Bay, we were caught in a violent +gale, which buried us in drifts on the highlands. +Descending to the sea, we entered a new realm of +coming summer joys.</p> + +<p>Moving along to Neurke, we found a big snowhouse +village. All had gathered for the spring walrus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">[Pg 452]</a></span> +chase. Many animals had been caught, and the hunters +were in a gluttonous stupor from continued overfeeding. +It was not long before we, too, filled up, and +succumbed to similar pleasures.</p> + +<p>My boys were here, and the principal pastime was +native gossip about the North Pole.</p> + +<p>Arriving among their own people here, Ah-we-lah +and E-tuk-i-shook recounted their remarkable journey. +They had, of course, no definite idea of where they had +been, but told of the extraordinary journey of seven +moons; of their reaching a place where there was no +game and no life; of their trailing over the far-off seas +where the sun did not dip at night, and of their hunting, +on our return, with slingshots, string traps, and arrows. +These were their strong and clear impressions.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">[Pg 453]</a></span>From Neurke we crossed Murchison Sound, along +the leads where the walrus was being hunted, and from +there we set a course for the eastern point of Northumberland +Island.</p> + +<p>We next entered Inglefield Gulf. Our party had +grown. Half of the natives were eager to join us on a +pilgrimage to the kindly and beloved Danes of Southern +Greenland; but, because of the advancing season, the +marches must be forced, and because a large sled train +hinders rapid advancement, I reduced the numbers +and changed the personnel of my party as better helpers +offered services.</p> + +<p>From a point near Itiblu we ascended the blue +slopes of a snow-free glacier, and after picking a dangerous +footing around precipitous cliffs, we rose to the +clouds and deep snows of the inland ice. Here, for +twenty-four hours, we struggled through deep snow, +with only the wind to give direction to our trail. Descending +from this region of perpetual mist and storm, +we came down to the sea in Booth Sound. From here, +after a good rest, over splendid ice, in good weather, we +entered Wolstenholm Sound. At Oomonoi there was +a large gathering of natives, and among these we +rested and fed up in preparation for the long, hazardous +trip which lay before us.</p> + +<p>In this locality, the Danish Literary Expedition, +under the late Mylius Ericksen, had wintered. Their +forced march northward from Upernavik proved so +desperate that they were unable to carry important +necessaries.</p> + +<p>But the natives, with characteristic generosity, had +supplied the Danes with the meat for food and the fat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454">[Pg 454]</a></span> +for fuel, which kept them alive during dangerous and +trying times.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>We now started for Cape York. My-ah, Ang-ad-loo +and I-o-ko-ti were accepted as permanent members +of my party. All of this party was, curiously enough, +hostile to Mr. Peary, and the general trend of conversation +was a bitter criticism of the way the people had been +fleeced of furs and ivory; how a party had been left to +die of cold and hunger at Fort Conger; how, at Cape +Sabine, many died of a sickness which had been brought +among them, and how Dr. Dedrick was not allowed to +save their lives; how a number had been torn from their +homes and taken to New York, where they had died of +barbarous ill-treatment; how their great "Iron Stone," +their only source of iron for centuries, the much-prized +heritage of their nation, had been stolen from the point +we were now nearing; and so on, throughout a long line +of other abuses. But, at the time, all of this bitterness +seemed to soften my own resentment, and I began to +cherish a forgiving spirit toward Mr. Peary. After all, +thought I, I have been successful; let us have an end of +discord and seek a brighter side of life.</p> + +<p>Now I began to think for the first time of the public +aspect of my homegoing. Heretofore my anticipations +had been centered wholly in the joys of a family reunion, +but now the thought was slowly forced as to the attitude<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_455" id="Page_455">[Pg 455]</a></span> +which others would take towards me. In the wildest +flights of my imagination I never dreamed of any +world-wide interest in the Pole. Again I desire to +emphasize the fact that every movement I have made +disproves the allegation that I planned to perpetrate a +gigantic fraud upon the world. Men had been seeking +the North Pole for years, and at no time had any of +these many explorers aroused any general interest in +his expedition or the results.</p> + +<p>Millions of money, hundreds of lives, had been sacrificed. +The complex forces of great nations had been +arrayed unsuccessfully. I had believed the thing could +be done by simpler methods, without the sacrifice of +life, without using other people's money; and, with this +conviction, had gone north. I now came south, with no +expectations of reward except such as would come from +a simple success in a purely private undertaking.</p> + +<p>I wish to emphasize that I regarded my entire experience +as something purely personal. I supposed +that the newspapers would announce my return, and +that there would be a three days' breath of attention, and +that that would be all. So far as I was personally concerned, +my chief thought was one of satisfaction at having +satisfied myself, and an intense longing for home.</p> + +<p>We camped at Cape York. Before us was the +great white expanse of Melville Bay to the distant +Danish shores. Few men had ever ventured over this. +What luck was in store for us could not be guessed. +But we were ready for every emergency. We moved +eastward to an island where the natives greeted us with +enthusiasm, and then we started over treacherous ice +southward. The snow was not deep; the ice proved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_456" id="Page_456">[Pg 456]</a></span> +fairly smooth. The seals, basking in the new summer +sun, augmented our supplies. Frequent bear tracks +added the spirit of the chase, which doubled our speed. +In two days we had the "Devil's Thumb" to our left, and +at the end of three and a half days the cheer of Danish +cliffs and semi-civilized Eskimos came under our eyes.</p> + +<p>The route from Annoatok to this point, following +the circuitous twists over sea and land, was almost as +long as that from Annoatok to the Pole, but we had covered +it in less than a month. With a record march +across Melville Bay, we had crossed a long line of trouble, +in which Mylius Ericksen and his companions nearly +succumbed after weeks of frosty torture. We had done +it in a few days, and in comfort, with the luxury of +abundant food gathered en route.</p> + +<p>Behind the Danish archipelago, traveling was good +and safe. As we went along, from village to village, +the Eskimos told the story of the Polar conquest. Rapidly +we pushed along to Tassuasak, which we reached +in the middle of May. This is one of the small trading +posts belonging to the district of Upernavik.</p> + +<p>At Tassuasak I met Charles Dahl, a congenial +Danish official, with whom I stayed a week. He spoke +only Danish, which I did not understand. Despite the +fact that our language was unintelligible, we talked until +two or three o'clock in the morning, somehow conveying +our thoughts, and when he realized what I told him he +took my hand, offering warm, whole-souled Norse +appreciation.</p> + +<p>Here I secured for Mr. Whitney tobacco and other +needed supplies. For the Eskimos, various presents +were bought, all of which were packed on the returning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_457" id="Page_457">[Pg 457]</a></span> +sleds. Then the time arrived to bid the final adieu to +my faithful wild men of the Far North. Tears took the +place of words in that parting.</p> + +<p>By sledge and oomiak (skin boat) I now continued +my journey to Upernavik.</p> + +<p>Upernavik is one of the largest Danish settlements +in Greenland and one of the most important trading +posts. It is a small town with a population of about +three hundred Eskimos, who live in box-shaped huts of +turf. The town affords residence for about six Danish +officials, who live, with their families, in comfortable +houses.</p> + +<p>I reached there early one morning about May 20, +1909, and went at once to the house of Governor Kraul. +The governor himself—a tall, bald-headed, dignified +man, a bachelor, about fifty years of age, of genial manner +and considerable literary and scientific attainments—answered +my knock on the door. He admitted +me hospitably, and then looked me over from head to +foot.</p> + +<p>I was a hard-looking visitor. I wore an old sealskin +coat, worn bearskin trousers, stockings of hare-skin +showing above torn seal boots. I was reasonably dirty. +My face was haggard and bronzed, my hair was uncut, +long and straggling. However, I felt reassured in a +bath and clean underclothing secured a week before at +Tassuasak. Later these clothes were replaced by new +clothes given me by Governor Kraul, some of which I +wore on my trip to Copenhagen. My appearance was +such that I was not surprised by the governor's question: +"Have you any lice on you?"</p> + +<p>Some years before he had entertained some Arctic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_458" id="Page_458">[Pg 458]</a></span> +pilgrims, and a peculiar breed of parasites remained +to plague the village for a long time. I convinced him +that, in spite of my unprepossessing appearance, he +was safe in sheltering me.</p> + +<p>At his house I had all the luxuries of a refined home +with a large library at my disposal. I had also a large, +comfortable feather-bed with clean sheets. I slept for +hours every day, devoting about four or five hours to +my work on my notes.</p> + +<p>At breakfast I told Governor Kraul briefly of my +journey, and although he was polite and pleasant, I +could see that he was skeptical as to my having reached +the Pole. I remained with him a month, using his pens +and paper putting the finishing touches on my narrative—on +which I had done much work at Cape Sparbo. +My notes and papers were scattered about, and Governor +Kraul read them, and as he read them his doubts +were dispelled and he waxed enthusiastic.</p> + +<p>Governor Kraul had had no news of the inside +world for about a year. He was as anxious as I was for +letters and papers. I went over his last year's news +with a good deal of interest. While thus engaged, early +one foggy morning, a big steamer came into port. It +was the steam whaler <i>Morning</i> of Dundee. Her master, +Captain Adams, came ashore with letters and news. He +recited the remarkable journey of Shackleton to the +South Pole as his opening item in the cycle of the year's +incidents. After that he gave it as his opinion that +England had become Americanized in its politics, and +after recounting the year's luck in whaling, sealing and +fishing, he then informed me that from America the +greatest news was the success of "The Merry Widow"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_459" id="Page_459">[Pg 459]</a></span> +and "The Dollar Princess." I was invited aboard to +eat the first beefsteak and first fresh civilized food that +I had eaten in two years. I then told him of my Polar +conquest. He was keenly interested in my story, all +of my reports seeming to confirm his own preconceived +ideas of conditions about the Pole. When I went ashore +I took a present of a bag of potatoes. To Governor +Kraul and myself these potatoes proved to be the greatest +delicacy, for to both the flavor and real fresh, mealy +potatoes gave our meals the finishing touches of a fine +dessert.</p> + +<p>I gave Captain Adams some information about new +hunting grounds which, as he left, he said would be +tried.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>Life at Upernavik was interesting. Among other +things, we noted the total eclipse of the sun on June 17. +According to our time, it began in the evening at +eighteen minutes past seven and ended ten minutes after +nine.</p> + +<p>For a number of days the natives had looked with +anxiety upon the coming of the mysterious darkness +attending the eclipse, for now we were in a land of +anxiety and uneasiness. It was said that storms would +follow each other, displaying the atmospheric rage; that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_460" id="Page_460">[Pg 460]</a></span> +seals could not be sought, and that all good people should +pray. Although a violent southwest gale did rush by, +the last days before the eclipse were clear and warm.</p> + +<p>Governor Kraul suggested a camp on the high +rocks east. Mr. Anderson, the governor's assistant, and +I joined in the expedition. We took smoked and amber +glasses, a pen and paper, a camera and field glasses. A +little disk was cut out of the northern side of the sun +before we started. There was no wind, and the sky was +cloudless. A better opportunity could not have been +afforded. It had been quite warm. The chirp of the +snow bunting and the buzz of bees gave the first joyous +rebound of the short Arctic summer. Small sand-flies +rose in clouds, and the waters glittered with midsummer +incandescence. Small groups of natives, in gorgeous +attire, gathered in many places, and occasionally took +a sly glance at the sun as if something was about to +happen. They talked in muffled undertones.</p> + +<p>When one-third of the sun's disk was obscured it +was impossible to see the cut circle with the unprotected +eye. It grew perceptibly dark. The natives quieted +and moved toward the church. The birds ceased to +sing; the flies sank to the ground. With the failing +light the air quickly chilled, the bright contour of the +land blurred, the deep blue of the sea faded to a dull +purple-blue seemingly lighter, but the midday splendor +of high lights and shadows was lost. The burning glitter +of the waters under the sun now quickly changed to a +silvery glow. The alabaster and ultramarine blue of +the icebergs was veiled in gray.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<img src="images/illo_509.jpg" width="640" height="428" alt="SAVED FROM STARVATION—THE RESULT OF ONE OF OUR LAST CARTRIDGES" title="" /> +<span class="caption">SAVED FROM STARVATION—THE RESULT OF ONE OF OUR LAST CARTRIDGES</span> +</div> + +<p>When a thread of light spread the cut out, we knew +that the total eclipse was over. In what seemed like a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_461" id="Page_461">[Pg 461]</a></span> +few seconds the gloom of night brightened to the sparkle +of noon.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 541px;"> +<img src="images/illo_510.jpg" width="541" height="800" alt="MILES AND MILES OF DESOLATION. +HOMEWARD BOUND" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“MILES AND MILES OF DESOLATION.”<br /> +HOMEWARD BOUND</span> +<p class="center"><i>Copyright</i>, 1909, “<i>New York Herald Co.</i>”</p> +</div> + +<p>At the darkest time the natives had called for open +church doors, and a sense of immediate danger came over +the savage horizon with the force of a panic. A single +star was visible for about a minute before and after the +total eclipse. A slight salmon flush remained along the +western horizon; otherwise the sky varied in tones of +purple-blue.</p> + +<p>After the sea had brightened to its normal luster, +Governor Kraul gave the entire native settlement a +feast of figs.</p> + +<p>About June 20, the Danish supply ship, <i>Godthaab</i>, +with Captain Henning Shoubye in command, arrived +from South Greenland. Inspector Dougaard Jensen +and Handelschef Weche were aboard on a tour of +inspection along the Danish settlements. A corps of +scientific observers were also aboard. Among these +were Professors Thompsen and Steensby and Dr. +Krabbe. Governor Kraul asked me to accompany him +aboard the <i>Godthaab</i>. Thus I first met this group of +men, who afterwards did so much to make my journey +southward to Copenhagen interesting and agreeable. +The Governor told them of the conquest of the Pole. +At the time their interest in the news was not very +marked, but later every phase of the entire trip was +thoroughly discussed.</p> + +<p>In a few days the <i>Godthaab</i> sailed from Upernavik +to Umanak, and I took passage on her. Captain Shoubye +quietly and persistently questioned me as to details +of my trip. Apparently he became convinced that I +was stating facts, for when we arrived at Umanak, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_462" id="Page_462">[Pg 462]</a></span> +social metropolis of North Greenland, the people enthusiastically +received me, having been informed of my feat +by the captain.</p> + +<p>After coaling at a place near Umanak we started +south.</p> + +<p>At the "King's Guest House" in Eggedesminde, +the only hotel in Greenland, I met Dr. Norman-Hansen, +a scientist, with whom I talked. He questioned +me, and a fraternal confidence was soon established.</p> + +<p>Later the <i>Godthaab</i>, which took the missionary +expedition to the northernmost Eskimo settlement at +North Star Bay and then returned, arrived from Cape +York with Knud Rassmussen and other Danes aboard. +They had a story that my two Eskimos had said I had +taken them to the "Big Nail."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_463" id="Page_463">[Pg 463]</a></span></p> +<h2>FROM GREENLAND TO COPENHAGEN</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">FOREWARNING OF THE POLAR CONTROVERSY—BANQUET +AT EGGEDESMINDE—ON BOARD THE HANS EGEDE—CABLEGRAMS +SENT FROM LERWICK—THE OVATION +AT COPENHAGEN—BEWILDERED AMIDST THE GENERAL +ENTHUSIASM—PEARY'S FIRST MESSAGES—EMBARK +ON OSCAR II FOR NEW YORK</p> + +<h3>XXXI<br /> + +<br /> +<span class="smcap">At the Danish Metropolis</span></h3> + + +<p>At Eggedesminde was given the first banquet in +my honor. At the table were about twenty people. +Knud Rassmussen, the writer, among others spoke. In +an excited talk in Danish, mixed with English and German, +he foretold the return of Mr. Peary and prophesied +discord. This made little impression at the time and +was recalled only by later events.</p> + +<p>At this point I wish to express my gratitude and +appreciation of the universal courtesy of which I was the +recipient at every Danish settlement in my southward +progress along the coast of Greenland.</p> + +<p>At Eggedesminde Inspector Daugaard-Jensen endeavored +to secure an idle walrus schooner for me. By +this I hoped to get to Labrador and thence to New +York. This involved considerable official delay, and I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_464" id="Page_464">[Pg 464]</a></span> +estimated I could make better time by going to Copenhagen +on the <i>Hans Egede</i>. Although every berth on +this boat, when it arrived, was engaged, Inspector +Daugaard-Jensen, with the same characteristic kindness +and courtesy shown me by all the Danes, secured +for me comfortable quarters.</p> + +<p>On board were a number of scientific men and +Danish correspondents. As the story of my quest had +spread along the Greenland coast, and as conflicting +reports might be sent out, Inspector Daugaard-Jensen +suggested that I cable a first account to the world.</p> + +<p>The anxiety of the newspaper correspondents on +board gave me the idea that my story might have considerable +financial value. I was certainly in need of +money. I had only forty or fifty dollars and I needed +clothing and money for my passage from Copenhagen +to New York.</p> + +<p>The suggestions and assistance of Inspector Daugaard-Jensen +were very helpful. Iceland and the Faroe +Islands, frequent ports of call for the Danish steamers, +because of a full passenger list and the absence of commercial +needs, were not visited by the <i>Hans Egede</i> on +this return trip. The captain decided to put into Lerwick, +in the Shetland Islands, so that I could send my +message.</p> + +<p>I prepared a story of about 2,000 words, and +went ashore at Lerwick. No one but myself and a representative +of the captain was allowed to land. We +swore the cable operator to secrecy, sent several official +and private messages, and one to James Gordon Bennett +briefly telling of my discovery. As the operator refused +to be responsible for the press message, it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_465" id="Page_465">[Pg 465]</a></span> +left with the Danish consul. To Mr. Bennett I cabled: +"Message left in care of Danish consul, 2,000 words. +For it $3,000 expected. If you want it, send for it."</p> + +<p>Our little boat pulled back to the <i>Hans Egede</i>, and +the ship continued on her journey to Copenhagen. Two +days passed. On board we talked of my trip as quite a +commonplace thing. I made some appointments for a +short stay in Copenhagen.</p> + +<p>Off the Skaw, the northernmost point of Denmark, +a Danish man-of-war came alongside us. There +was a congratulatory message from the Minister of +State. This greatly surprised me.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile a motor boat puffed over the unsteady +sea and a half dozen seasick newspaper men, looking +like wet cats, jumped over the rails. They had been +permitted to board on the pretext that they had a message +from the American Minister, Dr. Egan. I took +them to my cabin and asked whether the New York +<i>Herald</i> had printed my cable. The correspondent of the +<i>Politiken</i> drew out a Danish paper in which I recognized +the story. I talked with the newspaper men for +five minutes and my prevailing impression was that they +did not know what they wanted. They told me Fleet +Street had moved to Copenhagen. I confess all of this +seemed foolish at the time.</p> + +<p>They told me that dinners and receptions awaited +me at Copenhagen. That puzzled me, and when I +thought of my clothes I became distressed. I wore a +dirty, oily suit. I had only one set of clean linen and +one cap. After consulting with the Inspector we +guessed at my measurements, and a telegram was written +to a tailor at Copenhagen to have some clothing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_466" id="Page_466">[Pg 466]</a></span> +ready for me. At Elsinore cables began to arrive, and +thence onward I became a helpless leaf on a whirlwind +of excitement. I let the people about plan and think +for me, and had a say in nothing. A cable from Mr. +Bennett saying that he had never paid $3,000 so willingly +gave me pleasure. There was relief in this, too, +for my expenses at the hotel in Eggedesminde and on +the <i>Hans Egede</i> were unpaid.</p> + +<p>At Elsinore many people came aboard with whom +I shook hands and muttered inanities in response to +congratulations. Reporters who were not seasick +thronged the ship, each one insisting on a special interview. +Why should I be interviewed? It seemed silly +to make such a fuss.</p> + +<p>Cablegrams and letters piled in my cabin. With +my usual methodical desire to read and answer all communications +I sat down to this task, which soon seemed +hopeless. I was becoming intensely puzzled, and a +not-knowing-where-I-was-at sensation confused me. +I did not have a minute for reflection, and before I could +approximate my situation, we arrived at Copenhagen.</p> + +<p>Like a bolt from the blue, there burst about me the +clamor of Copenhagen's ovation. I was utterly bewildered +by it. I found no reason in my mind for it. +About the North Pole I had never felt such exultation. +I could not bring myself to feel what all this indicated, +that I had accomplished anything extraordinarily marvelous. +For days I could not grasp the reason for the +world-excitement.</p> + +<p>When I went on deck, as we approached the city, +I saw far in the distance flags flying. Like a darting +army of water bugs, innumerable craft of all kind were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_467" id="Page_467">[Pg 467]</a></span> +leaping toward us on the sunlit water. Tugs and +motors, rowboats and sailboats, soon surrounded and +followed us. The flags of all nations dangled on the +decorated craft. People shouted, it seemed, in every +tongue. Wave after wave of cheering rolled over the +water. Horns blew, there was the sound of music, guns +exploded. All about, balancing on unsteady craft, their +heads hooded in black, were the omnipresent moving-picture-machine +operators at work. All this passed as a +moving picture itself, I standing there, dazed, simply +dazed.</p> + +<p>Amidst increasing cheering the <i>Hans Egede</i> +dropped anchor. Prince Christian, the crown prince, +Prince Waldemar, King Frederick's brother, United +States Minister Egan, and many other distinguished +gentlemen in good clothes greeted me. That they were +people who wore good clothes was my predominant impression. +Mentally I compared their well-tailored garments +with my dirty, soiled, bagged-at-the-knees suit. +I doffed my old dirty cap, and as I shook hands with +the Prince Christian and Prince Waldemar, tall, splendid +men, I felt very sheepish. While all this was going +on, I think I forgot about the North Pole. I was most +uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>For a while it was impossible to get ashore. Along +the pier to which we drew, the crowd seemed to drag +into the water. About me was a babel of sound, of +which I heard, the whole time, no intelligible word. I +was pushed, lifted ashore, the crown prince before me, +William T. Stead, the English journalist, behind. I +almost fell, trying to get a footing. On both sides the +press of people closed upon us. I fought like a swimmer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_468" id="Page_468">[Pg 468]</a></span> +struggling for life, and, becoming helpless, was pushed +and carried along. I walked two steps on the ground +and five on the air. Somebody grabbed my hat, another +pulled off a cuff, others got buttons; but flowers +came in exchange. At times Stead held me from falling. +I was weak and almost stifled. On both sides of +me rushed a flood of blurred human faces. I was in a +delirium. I ceased to think, was unable to think, for +hours.</p> + +<p>We finally reached the Meteorological building. I +was pushed through the iron gates. I heard them +slammed behind me. I paused to breathe. Somebody +mentioned something about a speech. "My God!" I +muttered. I could no more think than fly. I was pushed +onto a balcony. I remember opening my mouth, but +I do not know a word I said. There followed a lot of +noise. I suppose it was applause. Emerging from the +black, lonely Arctic night, the contrast of that rushing +flood of human faces staggered me. Yes, there was another +sensation—that of being a stranger among strange +people, in a city where, however much I might be honored, +I had no old-time friend. This curiously depressed +me.</p> + +<p>Through a back entrance I was smuggled into an +automobile. The late Commander Hovgaard, a member +of the Nordenskjöld expedition, took charge of affairs, +and I was taken to the Phoenix Hotel. Apartments +had also been reserved for me at the Bristol and +Angleterre, but I had no voice in the plans, for which I +was glad.</p> + +<p>I was shown to my room and, while washing my +face and hands, had a moment to think. "What the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_469" id="Page_469">[Pg 469]</a></span> +devil is it all about?" I remember repeating to myself. +I was simply dazed. A barber arrived; I submitted to a +shave. Meanwhile a manicure girl appeared and took +charge of my hands. Through the bewildered days that +followed, the thought of this girl, like the obsession of a +delirious man, followed me. I had not paid or tipped +her, and with the girl's image a perturbed feeling persisted, +"Here is some one I have wronged." I repeated +that over and over again. This shows the overwrought +state of my mind at the time.</p> + +<p>Next the bedroom was a large, comfortable reception +room, already filled with flowers. Beyond that was +a large room in which I found many suits of clothes, +some smaller, some bigger than the estimated size wired +from the ship. At this moment there came Mr. Ralph +L. Shainwald—an old friend and a companion of the +first expedition to Mt. McKinley. He selected for me +suitable things. Hastily I fell into one of these, and +mechanically put on clean linen—or rather, the clothing +was put on by my attendants.</p> + +<p>Now I was carried to the American Legation, +where I lunched with Minister Egan, and I might have +been eating sawdust for all the impression food made on +me. For an hour, I have been told since, I was plied +with questions. It is a strange phenomenon how our +bodies will act and our lips frame words when the mind +is blank. I had no more idea of my answers than the +man in the moon.</p> + +<p>Upon my brain, with the quick, nervous twitter of +moving-picture impressions, swam continually the +scenes through which I moved. I have a recollection, on +my return to the hotel, of going through hundreds of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_470" id="Page_470">[Pg 470]</a></span> +telegrams. Just as a man looks at his watch and puts +it in his pocket without noting the time, so I read these +messages of congratulation. Tremendous offers of +money from publishers, and for lecture engagements, +and opportunities by which I might become a music-hall +attraction excited no interest one way or another.</p> + +<p>My desire to show appreciation of the hospitality +of the Danes by returning to America on a Danish +steamer prevented my even considering some of these +offers. If I had planned to deceive the world for money, +is it reasonable to believe I should have thrown away +huge sums for this simple show of courtesy?</p> + +<p>Having lunched with Minister Egan, I spent part +of the afternoon of the day of my arrival hastily scanning +a voluminous pile of correspondence. Money offers +and important messages were necessarily pushed +aside. I had been honored by a summons to the royal +presence, and shortly before five o'clock repaired to the +royal palace.</p> + +<p>I still retain in my mental retina a picture of the +king. It is a gracious, kindly memory. Surrounded by +the queen and his three daughters, Princesses Ingeborg, +Thyra, and Dagmar, he rose, a gray-haired, fatherly old +man, and with warmness of feeling extended his hand. +Out of that human sea of swirling white faces and staring +eyes, in which I had struggled as a swimmer for life, +I remember feeling a sense of security and rest. We +talked, I think, of general topics.</p> + +<p>I returned to the hotel. Into my brain came the +words, from some one, that the newspaper correspondents, +representing the great dailies and magazines of +the world, were waiting for me. Would I see them? I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_471" id="Page_471">[Pg 471]</a></span> +went downstairs and for an hour was grilled with questions. +They came like shots, in many tongues, and only +now and then did familiar English words strike me and +quiver in my brain cells.</p> + +<p>I have been told I was self-possessed and calm. +Had I gone through 30,000 square miles of land? Was +I competent to take observations? Could I sit down and +invent observations? Had I been fully possessed, I suppose, +these sudden doubts expressed would have caused +some wonderment; doubtless I was puzzled below the +realm of consciousness, where, they say, the secret service +of the mind grasps the most elusive things. I have since +read my replies and marveled at the lucidity of certain +answers; only my bewilderment, unless I were misquoted, +can explain the absurdity of others.</p> + +<p>My impression of the banquet that night in the City +Hall is very vague. I talked aimlessly. There were +speeches, toasts were drunk; I replied. The North Pole +was, I suppose, the subject, but so bewildered was I +at the time, that nothing was further from my mind than +the North Pole. If an idea came now and then it was +the feeling that I must get away without offending +these people. I felt the atmosphere of excitement about +me for days, pressing me, crushing me.</p> + +<p>My time was occupied with consultations, receptions, +lunches, and dinners, between which there was a +feverish effort to answer increasingly accumulating +telegrams. Mr. E. G. Wyckoff, an old friend, now +came along and took from me certain business cares. +By day there was excitement; by night excitement; there +was excitement in my dreams. I slept no more than +five hours a night—if I could call it sleep.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_472" id="Page_472">[Pg 472]</a></span></p> + +<p>As a surcease from this turmoil came the evening +at King Frederick's summer palace, where I dined with +the royal family and many notable guests. All were so +kindly, the surroundings were so unostentatious, that +for a short while my confusion passed.</p> + +<p>I remember being cornered near a piano after dinner +by the young members of the family and plied with +questions. I felt for once absolutely at ease and told +them of the wild animals and exciting hunts of the north. +Otherwise we talked of commonplace topics, and rarely +was the North Pole mentioned.</p> + +<p>Until after midnight, on my return to my hotel, I +sat up with the late Commander Hovgaard and Professor +Olafsen, secretary of the Geographical Society. +I clearly recall an afternoon when Professor Torp, rector +of the university, and Professor Elis Stromgren, +informed me that the university desired to honor me +with a decoration. Professor Stromgren asked me about +my methods of observation and I explained them freely. +He believed my claim. The question of certain, absolute +and detailed proofs never occurred to me. I was +sure of the verity of my claim. I knew I had been as +accurate in my scientific work as anyone could be.</p> + +<p>My first public account of my exploit was delivered +before the Geographical Society on the evening of September +7, and in the presence of the king and queen, +Prince and Princess George of Greece, most of the +members of the royal family, and the most prominent +people of Copenhagen. I had outlined my talk and +written parts of it. With the exception of these, which +I read, I spoke extempore. Because of the probability +of the audience not understanding English, I confined<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_473" id="Page_473">[Pg 473]</a></span> +myself to a brief narrative. The audience listened +quietly and their credence seemed but the undemonstrative +acceptance of an every-day fact.</p> + +<p>Not knowing that a medal was to be presented to +me at that time, I descended from the platform on concluding +my speech. I met the crown prince, who was +ascending, and who spoke to me. I did not understand +him and proceeded to the floor before the stage. Embarrassed +by my misunderstanding, he unfolded his +papers and began a presentation speech. Confused, I +remained standing below. Whether I ascended the +stage and made a reply or received the medal from the +floor, I do not now remember.</p> + +<p>During the several days that followed I spent most +of my time answering correspondence and attending to +local obligations. An entire day was spent autographing +photographs for members of the royal family. After +much hard work I got things in such shape that I saw +my way clear to go to Brussels, return to Copenhagen, +and make an early start for home.</p> + +<p>I had delivered my talk before the Geographical +Society. The reporters had seen me, and assailed me +with questions, and had packed their suit cases. Tired +to death and exhausted with want of sleep, I viewed +the prospect of a departure with relief. Because of my +condition I refused an invitation to attend a banquet +which the newspaper <i>Politiken</i> gave to the foreign correspondents +at the Tivoli restaurant.</p> + +<p>They insisted that I come, if only for five minutes, +and promised that there would be no attempt at interviewing. +I went and listened wearily to the speeches, +made in different languages, and felt no stir at the ap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_474" id="Page_474">[Pg 474]</a></span>plause. +While the representative of the <i>Matin</i> was +speaking in French, some one tiptoed up to me and +placed a cablegram under my plate. From all sides attendants +appeared with cables which were quietly placed +under the plates of the various reporters. The <i>Matin</i> +man stopped; we looked at the cables. A deadly lull +fell in the room. You could have heard a pin drop. It +was Peary's first message—"Stars and Stripes nailed +to the Pole!"</p> + +<p>My first feeling, as I read it, was of spontaneous belief. +Well, I thought, he got there! On my right and +left men were arguing about it. It was declared a hoax. +I recognized the characteristic phrasing as Peary's. I +knew that the operators along the Labrador coast knew +Peary and that it would be almost impossible to perpetrate +a joke. I told this to the dinner party. The +speeches continued. No reference was made to the message, +but the air seemed charged with electricity.</p> + +<p>My feeling at the news, as I analyze it, was not of +envy or chagrin. I thought of Peary's hard, long years +of effort, and I was glad; I felt no rivalry about the +Pole; I did feel, aside from the futility of reaching the +Pole itself, that Peary's trip possibly might be of great +scientific value; that he had probably discovered new +lands and mapped new seas of ice. "There is glory +enough for all," I told the reporters.</p> + +<p>At the hotel a pile of telegrams six inches high, +from various papers, awaited me. I picked eight representative +papers and made some diplomatic reply, +expressing what I felt. That Peary would contest my +claim never entered my head. It did seem, and still +seems, in itself too inconsequential a thing to make such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_475" id="Page_475">[Pg 475]</a></span> +a fuss about. This may be hard to believe to those who +have magnified the heroism of such an achievement, a +thing I never did feel and could not feel.</p> + +<p>While sitting at the farewell dinner of the Geographical +Society the following day, Mr. Peary's second +message, saying that my Eskimos declared I had +not gone far out of sight of land, came to me. Those +about received it with indignation. Many advised me +to reply in biting terms. This I did not do; did not feel +like doing.</p> + +<p>Peary's messages caused me to make a change in +my plans. Previously I had accepted an invitation to +go to Brussels, but now, as I was being attacked, I +determined to return home immediately and face the +charges in person. I took passage on the steamship +<i>Oscar II</i>, sailing direct from Copenhagen to New York.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_476" id="Page_476">[Pg 476]</a></span></p> +<h2>COPENHAGEN TO THE UNITED STATES</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">ACROSS THE ATLANTIC—RECEPTION IN NEW YORK—BEWILDERING +CYCLONE OF EVENTS—INSIDE NEWS OF +THE PEARY ATTACK—HOW THE WEB OF SHAME WAS +WOVEN</p> + +<h3>XXXII<br /> + +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Peary's Underhand Work at Labrador</span></h3> + + +<p>It seemed that, coming from the companionless +solitude of the North, destiny in the shape of crowds +was determined to pursue me. I expected to transfer +from the <i>Melchior</i> to the <i>Oscar II</i> at Christiansaand, +Norway, quietly and make my way home in peace. At +Christiansaand the noise began. On a smaller scale +was repeated the previous ovation of Copenhagen.</p> + +<p>On board the <i>Oscar II</i> I really got more sleep than +I had for months previous or months afterwards. After +several days of seasickness I experienced the joys of +comparative rest and slept like a child. My brain still +seemed numbed. There were on the boat no curiosity-seekers; +no crowds stifled me nor did applause thunder +in my ears.</p> + +<p>Every few minutes, before we got out of touch with +the wireless, there were messages; communications +from friends, from newspapers and magazines; repeti<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_477" id="Page_477">[Pg 477]</a></span>tions +of the early charges made against me; questions +concerning Peary's messages and my attitude toward +him. When the boat approached Newfoundland the +wireless again became disturbing. Then came the "gold +brick" cable.</p> + +<p>At this time, every vestige of pleasure in the +thought of the thing I had accomplished left me. Since +then, and to this day, I almost view all my efforts +with regret. I doubt if any man ever lived in the +belief of an accomplishment and got so little pleasure, +and so much bitterness, from it. That my Eskimos had +told Mr. Peary they had been but two days out of sight +of land seemed probable; it was a belief I had always +encouraged. That Mr. Peary should persistently +attack me did arouse a feeling of chagrin and injury.</p> + +<p>I spent most of my time alone in my cabin or strolling +on the deck. The people aboard considered Peary's +messages amusing. I talked little; I tried to analyze the +situation in my mind, but wearily I gave it up; mentally +I was still dazed.</p> + +<p>During the trip Director Cold, chief of the Danish +United Steamship Company, helped me with small details +in every way; Lonsdale, my secretary, and Mr. +Cold's secretary were busy copying my notes and my +narrative story, which I had agreed to give to the New +York <i>Herald</i>. I had made no plans; my one object +was to see my family.</p> + +<p>As we approached New York the wireless brought +me news of the ovation under way. This amazed and +filled me with dismay. I had considered the exaggerated +reception of Copenhagen a manifestation of local +excitement, partly due to the interest of the Danes in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_478" id="Page_478">[Pg 478]</a></span> +the North. New York, I concluded, was too big, too +unemotional, too much interested in bigger matters to +bother much about the North Pole. This I told Robert +M. Berry, the Berlin representative of the Associated +Press, who accompanied me on the boat. He disagreed +with me.</p> + +<p>Having burned one hundred tons of coal in order +to make time, the <i>Oscar II</i> arrived along American +shores a day before that arranged for my reception. So +as not to frustrate any plans, we lay off Shelter Island +until the next day. It was my wish to send a message +to Mrs. Cook and ask her to come out. But the sea +was rough; and, moreover, she was not well. Now tugs +bearing squads of reporters began to arrive. We agreed +to let no one aboard. The New York <i>Journal</i>, with +characteristic enterprise, had brought Anthony Fiala +on its tug with a note from Mrs. Cook. So an exception +had to be made. An old friend and a letter from my +wife could not be sent away.</p> + +<p>That night I slept little. Outside I heard the dull +thud of the sea. Voices exploded from megaphones +every few minutes. Mingled emotions filled me. The +anticipation of meeting wife and children was sweet; +that again, after an absence of more than two years, I +should step upon the shores of my own land filled me +with emotions too strong for words.</p> + +<p>The next morning I was up with the rising of the +sun. We arrived at Quarantine soon after seven. +About us on the waves danced a dozen tugs with reporters. +In the distance appeared a tug toward which +I strained my eyes, for I was told it bore my wife and +children. With a feeling of delight, which only long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_479" id="Page_479">[Pg 479]</a></span> +separation can give, I boarded this, and in a moment +they were in my arms. I was conscious of confusion +about me; of whistling and shrieking; uncanny magnified +voices thundering from scores of megaphones; of a +band playing an American air. When the <i>Grand Republic</i>, +thrilling a metallic salute, steamed toward us, +and the cheers of hundreds rent the air, I remembered +asking myself what it could be all about. Why all this +agitation?</p> + +<p>Again the contagion of excitement bewildered me; +the big boat drew near to a tug, above me swirled a cloud +of hundreds of faces; around me the sunlit sea, with +decorated craft, whirled and danced. As I giddily +ascended the gangplank and felt a wreath of roses flung +about me I was conscious chiefly of an unsuitable lack +of appreciation. I spoke briefly; friends and relatives +greeted me; the shaking of thousands of hands began; +and all the while a deep hurt, a feeling of soreness, +oppressed me.</p> + +<p>From that day on until after I left New York, my +life was a kaleidoscopic whirl of excitement, for which +I found no reason. I had no time to analyze or estimate +public enthusiasm and any change of that enthusiasm +into doubt. I had no sense of perspective; involuntarily +I was swept through a cyclone of events. The +bewilderment which came upon me at Copenhagen returned, +and with it a feeling of helplessness, of puzzlement; +I felt much as a child might when taking its first +ride in a carousel. Each day thereafter, from morning +until morning there was a continuous rush of excitement; +at no time, until I fled from it, did I get more +than four hours' sleep at night—disturbed sleep at that.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_480" id="Page_480">[Pg 480]</a></span> +I had not a moment for reflection, and even now, after +recovering from the lack of mental perception which +inevitably followed, it is with difficulty that I recall my +impressions at the time. I suppose there are those who +think that I was having a good time, but it was the +hardest time of my life.</p> + +<p>I remember standing in the pilot house of the +<i>Grand Republic</i>, my little ones by me, and watching +thousands of men along the wharves of the East River, +going mad. The world seemed engaged in some frantic +revel. Factories became vocal and screamed hideously; +boats became hoarse with shrieking; the megaphone +cry was maddening. Drawing up to a gayly +decorated pier, a thunder of voices assailed me. I felt +crushed by the unearthly din.</p> + +<p>I was involuntarily shoved along, and found myself +in an automobile—one of many, all decorated with flags. +Cameras clicked like rapid-fire guns. A band played; +roaring voices like beating sound waves rose and fell; +faces swam before me.</p> + +<p>Through streets jammed with people we moved +along. I hardly spoke a word to my wife, who sat near. +Out of the scene of tumult, familiar faces peered now +and again. I remember being touched by the sight of +thousands of school children, assembled outside of public +schools and waving American flags.</p> + +<p>In the neighborhood of the new bridge, under the +arch, I recall seeing the eager face of my favorite boyhood +school-teacher. It struck me at the time that she +hardly seemed aged a day. Something swelled up within +me, and I was conscious of a desire to lean out through +the crowd and draw her into the machine. Through the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_481" id="Page_481">[Pg 481]</a></span> +thick congestion it was difficult to move; even the police +were helpless. Now and again people tried to climb +into the machine and were torn away.</p> + +<p>At the Bushwick Club I lunched in a small room +with friends, and a feeling of pleasure warmed my heart. +During the reception words of confidence were spoken +and somehow filtered into my mind. I shook hands +until my arms were sore, bowed my head until my neck +ached. I was forced to retire. Later there was dinner +at the club, after which I received seven hundred singers. +By this time I felt like a machine. My brain was blank. +About midnight, utterly exhausted, I arrived at the +Waldorf-Astoria, where I fought through a crowd in +the lobby. I think I sat and listened to Mrs. Cook telling +me news of home and the family until night merged +into morning.</p> + +<p>Next day the storm through which I was being +swept began again. During that and the days following +I made many mistakes, did and said unwise things. +I want to show you, in telling of these events, just how +helpless I was; what a victim of circumstance; how unfitted +to bear the physical and mental demands of a +ceaseless procession of public functions, lectures, dinners, +receptions, days and nights of traveling, and how +unable to cope with the many charges. In sixty days +there were not less than two hundred lectures, dinners, +and receptions, not to mention the unremitting train +of press interviews. With no club of friends or organization +of any kind behind me, I stood the strain alone.</p> + +<p>I was ignorant of much that was said about me. +I had no one to gauge my situation at any time and +advise me. About me was an unbearable pressure from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_482" id="Page_482">[Pg 482]</a></span> +friends and foes; I stood it until I could stand it no +longer. There was not a minute of relief, not a minute +to think. Coming after two years spent in the Arctic, +at a time when nature was paying the debt of long +starvation and hardship, the stress of events inevitably +developed a mental strain bordering on madness. +Where could I go to get rest from it all? This was my +last thought at night and my first thought in the +morning.</p> + +<p>During my second day at the Waldorf I had to read +proofs of the narrative to be printed in the <i>Herald</i>, go +over the plans of my book with the New York publishing +house with whom I had signed a contract, and examine +hundreds of films to select photographs. There +were hundreds of letters and telegrams; scores of reporters +demanding interviews; hundreds of callers, few +of whom I was able to see. An army of publishers, +lecture managers, and even vaudeville managers sent +up their cards.</p> + +<p>The chief event of the first day in New York was +the inquisition by newspaper reporters. They both +interested and amused me. I had gone through the +same ordeal in Copenhagen, and I knew that American +interviewers are famed for their wolfish propensities.</p> + +<p>Before I saw the sensation-hungry press men, I got +certain news that shocked my sense of the fairness of the +American press. Someone interested in my case had +sent me unsolicited copies of all telegrams, cables and +wireless messages passing between New York and the +Peary ship. These messages now continued to come +daily, and thus I was afforded a splendid opportunity +to watch an underhand game of deceit wherein Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_483" id="Page_483">[Pg 483]</a></span> +Peary was shown to be in league with a New York +paper aiming secretly to further his claims and to cast +doubt upon mine.</p> + +<p>Among these was a message asking a certain editor +to meet Peary at Bangor, Maine, to arrange for the pro-Peary +campaign of bribery and conspiracy which followed. +In another, and the most remarkable message, +Mr. Peary first showed the sneaking methods by which +the whole controversy was conducted. A long list of +questions had been prepared by Mr. Peary at Battle +Harbor, covering, as rival interests dictated, every +phase of Polar work. These questions were sent to the +New York <i>Times</i> with instructions to compel answers +from me on each of a series of catch phrases.</p> + +<p>When the <i>Times</i> reporter came to me with these, I +recognized the Peary phraseology at once. I afterwards +compared the copy of Peary's telegram with +that of the <i>Times</i>, and found in it nearly every question +asked by the reporters. While the questions were being +read off, it required a good deal of patience to conceal +my irritation, as I knew Mr. Peary was talking through +the smooth-faced, smiling press cubs, none of whom +knew that he was Peary's mouthpiece. Every one of the +Peary questions, however, was amusing, for I had answered +each a dozen times in Europe. But if Mr. +Peary must question me, why did he stoop to the hypocrisy +of doing it through others? The other reporters +asked many questions, the reports of which I have not +seen since. But the duplicity of this little trick left a +strong impression of unfairness.</p> + +<p>At about this time I began to examine critically the +many efforts which Mr. Peary had begun to make to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_484" id="Page_484">[Pg 484]</a></span> +discredit my achievement. In going over such of his +reports of his own claims as had gotten to me, I was at +once struck with the statements parallel to mine which +he had sent out, and since these so thoroughly proved my +case I felt that I could be liberal and patient with Mr. +Peary's ill-temper.</p> + +<p>I now learned that after Mr. Peary got the full +reports of my attainment of the Pole at the wireless +station at Labrador, he withdrew behind the rocks to a +place where no one was looking, and digested that report. +His own report came after the digestion of mine. +In the meantime, his delay in proceeding to Sydney, +Nova Scotia, and his silence, were explained by the official +announcement that the ship was being washed and +cleaned. This was manifestly absurd. No seaman returning +from a voyage of a year, where sailors have no +occupation whatever except such work, waits until he +gets to port before cleaning his decks. Furthermore, +this hiding behind the rocks of Labrador continued for +weeks. What was the mysterious occupation of Mr. +Peary? The <i>Roosevelt</i>, as described by visitors when +she arrived at Sydney, was still very dirty. When Mr. +Peary's much-heralded report was finally printed, every +Arctic explorer at once said the astonishing parallel +statements in Mr. Peary's narrative either proved my +case or convicted Mr. Peary of plagiarism. My story, +by this time, had got well along in the New York +<i>Herald</i>. To help Mr. Peary out of his position, +McMillan later rushed to the press. He was under +contract not to write or talk to the press, nor to lecture, +write magazine articles or books, as were all of Peary's +men. But this prohibition was waived temporarily.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_485" id="Page_485">[Pg 485]</a></span> +Then McMillan made the statement that Dr. Cook must +have gotten the "parallel data" and inside information +from Mr. Peary's Eskimos. Everyone acquainted with +Greenland, including McMillan, knows that such inter-communication +was impossible. I had left for Upernavik +by the time Peary returned to Etah. Therefore, +McMillan and Peary both were caught in a deliberate +lie, as were also Bartlett<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> and Borup later. These were +Mr. Peary's witnesses in the broadside of charges with +which I was to be annihilated.</p> + +<p>A few days after my arrival in America I learned for +the first time of the strange death of Ross Marvin. +We were asked by Mr. Peary to believe that this young +man of more than average intelligence, a graduate of +Cornell University and of the New York Nautical +School, a man of experience on the Polar seas, stepped +over young ice alone, without a life-line, and sank +through a film of ice to a grave in the Arctic waters.</p> + +<p>An idiot might do that; but Marvin, unless he went<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_486" id="Page_486">[Pg 486]</a></span> +suddenly mad, would not do it. To cross the young ice +of open leads, like that in which Marvin is said to have +perished, is a daily, almost hourly, experience in Arctic +travel. To safeguard each other's lives, and to save +sledges and dog teams, life-lines are carried in coils on +the upstanders of the sled. When about to risk a crossing, +a line is always fixed from one to the other and from +sled to sled. When this is done, and an accident happens +such as that which is alleged to have befallen +Marvin, the victim is saved by the pull of his companions +on the line. This is done as unfailingly as one eats +meals. Would a man of Marvin's experience and intelligence +neglect such a precaution? I knew such an +accident might have happened to the inexperienced explorers +of the days of Franklin, but to-day it seemed +incredible. Furthermore, Peary was boasting of what +he styled the "Peary system," for which is claimed such +thoroughness that without it no other explorer could +reach the Pole. If Marvin's death was natural, then he +is a victim of this system.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_487" id="Page_487">[Pg 487]</a></span></p> + +<p>But let us read between the lines of this harrowing +tragedy. After learning of my attainment of the Pole, +Peary rushed to the wireless. With a letter in his +pocket from Captain Adams which gave the news that +started the ire of envy, and which also gave the news +that convicted Peary of a lie, he thereafter for a week +or more kept the wires busy with the famous "gold +brick" messages.</p> + +<p>Marvin's death, and the duty to a bereaved family, +which ordinary humanity would have dictated, were of +no consequence to one making envious, vicious attacks. +For a week all the world blushed with shame because of +the dishonor thus brought upon our country and our +flag. In New York there was a happy home, a loving +mother, a fond sister; anxious friends were all busy in +preparing surprises for the happy homecoming of the +one beloved by all. It was a busy week, with joyous, +heart-stirring anticipation. There was no news from +the Peary ship. Not a word came to indicate that their +expected returning hero had been lost in the icy seas. +To that mother's yearning heart her boy was nearing +home—but alas! no news came! A week passed, and +still no news!</p> + +<p>At last, after Peary had digested my narrative, +the carefully prepared press report was put on the +wires. Ross Marvin's family, engrossed in preparations +for a reception with flowers and flags, was about +to see, in cold, black print, that he for whom their hearts +beat expectantly was no more. At the last moment, +Peary's conscience seemingly troubled him. A long +message was sent to a friend to break the news and to +soften the effects of the press reports on that poor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_488" id="Page_488">[Pg 488]</a></span> +mother and sister. That message was sent "Collect." +A man who had given years of his time and his life to +glorify Peary was not worthy of a prepaid telegram!</p> + +<p>Later, an important letter from Marvin reached his +own home. In it the stealing of my supplies is referred +to in a way to show that Marvin condemned Peary. +The public ought to know the wording of this part of the +letter. Why has it been suppressed? Marvin's death, +to my understanding, does not seem natural. With a +good deal of empty verbiage the sacrifice of this unfortunate +young man is explained; but two questions +are forced at once: Why was Marvin without a life-line? +Why were conveniently lost with him certain +data that might disprove Peary's case?</p> + +<p>If Marvin sank into the ice, as Peary said he did, +then Peary is responsible for the loss of that life, for he +did not surround him with proper safeguards. The +death of this man points to something more than +tragedy. Since Marvin's soundings were made under +the authority of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the +American Government is, therefore, answerable for this +death.</p> + +<p>Mr. Peary's treatment of Marvin wearied me of +all the Peary talk at the time; and, furthermore, all of +Mr. Peary's charges, of which so much fuss was made, +carried the self-evident origin of cruel envy and selfishness. +First, the Eskimos, put through a third degree +behind closed doors, were reported to have said that I +had not been more than two sleeps out of sight of land. +This was easily explained. They had been instructed +not to tell Mr. Peary of my affairs, and they had been +encouraged to believe themselves always near land.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_489" id="Page_489">[Pg 489]</a></span> +Then this charge was dropped, and the next was made, +the one about my not reporting the alleged cache at +"Cape Thomas Hubbard." That assertion, instead of +injuring me, convicted Peary of trying to steal from +Captain Sverdrup the honor of discovering and naming +Svartevoeg. For it was shown that by deception "Cape +Thomas Hubbard" had been written over a point discovered +years earlier by another explorer. For this +kind of honor Hubbard had contributed to Peary's +expeditions. But is not the obliteration of a geographic +name for money a kind of geographic larceny?</p> + +<p>Then was forced the charge that I had told no one +of my Polar success in the North, and therefore the +entire report was an afterthought. Whitney and Prichard +later cleared this up, but at the very time when +Peary made this charge he had in his possession a letter +from Captain Adams, of the whaler <i>Morning</i>, which he +had received in the North, wherein my attainment of the +Pole was stated. When Peary got the Adams letter he +put on full steam, abandoned his plan to visit other +Greenland ports, and came direct to Labrador, to the +wireless. Why was the Adams letter suppressed, when +it was charged that I had told no one? And, furthermore, +why had Mr. Peary told no one on his ship of his +own success until he neared Battle Harbor?</p> + +<p>All of these charges betrayed untruthful methods +on the part of Mr. Peary in his own method of presentation. +Automatically, without a word of defence on +my part, each charge rebounded on the charger.</p> + +<p>Then there came the page broadside of rearranged +charges printed by every American paper. It contained +nothing new in the text, but with it there was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_490" id="Page_490">[Pg 490]</a></span> +faked map, copied from Sverdrup, which was made to +appear as though drawn by Eskimos. The best answer +to this whole problem is that from the same tongues +with which Mr. Peary tried to discredit me has come +a much more formidable charge against Mr. Peary. +For these same Eskimos have since said, without +quizzing from me, that Mr. Peary never got to the Pole +and that he never saw Crocker Land.</p> + +<p>This part of the controversy was thoroughly analyzed +by Professor W. F. Armbruster and Dr. Henry +Schwartz in the St. Louis <i>Mirror</i><a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a>.</p> + +<p>While this controversy early began to rage, the +tremendous offers of money which came in every hour +contributed to my bewilderment. They seemed fabu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_491" id="Page_491">[Pg 491]</a></span>lous; +the purport was beyond me. I imagined this as +part of a dream from which I should awake. Were I +the calculating monster of cupidity which some believe +me, I suppose I should have been more circumspect in +making my financial arrangements.</p> + +<p>I should hardly, for instance, have sold my narrative +story to Mr. James Gordon Bennett for $25,000 +when there were single offers of $50,000, $75,000, +$100,000, and more, for it. While I was in Copenhagen, +and before the <i>Herald</i> offer was accepted, Mr. +W. T. Stead had come with a message from W. R. +Hearst with instructions to double any other offer presented +for my narrative. Had I accepted Mr. Hearst's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_492" id="Page_492">[Pg 492]</a></span> +bid he would have paid $400,000 for what I sold for +$25,000. Here is a sacrifice of $375,000. Does that +look as if I tried to hoax the world for sordid gain, as +my enemies would like the public to believe? What +Mr. Bennett asked and offered $25,000 for was a series +of four articles on adventures in the North, for use in +the Sunday supplement of the <i>Herald</i>. I had no such +articles prepared at the time, nor, as I knew, should I +have time to write these. I did have the narrative story +of my trip, which consisted of twenty-five thousand to +thirty thousand words, complete. I decided, when I +heard the first reports of doubt cast on my claim, to +publish my narrative story as an honest and sincere +proof of my claim as soon as possible. So I gave this +to Mr. Bennett for the sum offered purely for Sunday +articles.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 535px;"> +<img src="images/illo_543.jpg" width="535" height="800" alt="GOVERNOR KRAUL IN HIS STUDY + +ARRIVAL AT UPERNAVIK" title="" /> +<span class="caption">GOVERNOR KRAUL IN HIS STUDY +<br /> +ARRIVAL AT UPERNAVIK</span> +</div> +<p> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_493" id="Page_493">[Pg 493]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 535px;"> +<img src="images/illo_544.jpg" width="535" height="800" alt="POLAR TRAGEDY" title="" /> +<span class="caption">POLAR TRAGEDY—A DESERTED CHILD OF THE SULTAN OF THE +NORTH AND ITS MOTHER</span> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Bennett offered me $5,000 additional for the +European rights of this story. To this offer I made +no reply, giving Mr. Bennett the sole news rights of the +story for the entire world.</p> + +<p>When I reached New York, needing ready money, +I wired Mr. Bennett for an advance on my story. He +cabled back an immediate order for the entire sum of +$25,000. This gave me a sudden glow, a feeling of +pleasure at what I regarded as a display of confidence.</p> + +<p>With my lecture work and traveling I was kept so +busy that I did not have time to go over the story, typewritten +from my almost illegible notes, which was sent +to the New York <i>Herald</i>. When I did go over the +proofs and found many grievous errors, the <i>Herald</i> had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_494" id="Page_494">[Pg 494]</a></span> +already syndicated the story. It was too late for any +corrections, and thus many errors appeared.</p> + +<p>I made a contract with a New York publishing +house, while in Copenhagen, with the idea of getting +out my book and all proofs possible as soon as the +presses would allow, in view of the imminent controversy. +For the English and American rights to my +book I was to receive $150,000 in a lump sum and an +additional $150,000 in royalties. Although papers +were signed for this, later on, when things seemed turning +against me and I saw the publishers were getting +"cold feet," I voluntarily freed them from the contract.</p> + +<p>By the time I left Copenhagen, as I figured later, +offers for book and magazine material and lectures +had aggregated just one and one-half million dollars. +A prominent New York manager made me an offer of +$250,000 for a series of lectures. During the first few +days I had absolutely no system of caring for this correspondence, +hundreds of important cablegrams remained +unopened, and huge offers of money were ignored. It +was only after Minister Egan sent Walter Lonsdale, in +response to my request for a competent secretary, that +some intelligible information was gleaned from the mass +of correspondence. Most of it, as a matter of fact, was +read only when we were on the <i>Oscar II</i>, bound for +home.</p> + +<p>After making my arrangement with Mr. Bennett, +the <i>Matin</i> of Paris had sent me an offer of $50,000 for +the serial rights of a French translation of the story to +appear in the <i>Herald</i>. This included a lecture under +the auspices of the paper in Paris. My anxiety to get +home prevented a consideration of this; and it was only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_495" id="Page_495">[Pg 495]</a></span> +after I sailed on the <i>Oscar II</i> that I realized I could have +gone to Paris, delivered the lecture, and returned to +New York by a fast boat.</p> + +<p>On the <i>Oscar II</i> a wireless had reached me of a +large offer for a lecture during the convention in St. +Louis. This I decided to accept, the simple reason +being that I needed money.</p> + +<p>Much criticism has been hurled at me because I +started on a lecture campaign when I should have prepared +my data and submitted proof. At that time I +was in no position to anticipate or understand this criticism. +Every explorer for fifty years had done the same +thing, all had delivered lectures and written articles +about their work after a first preliminary report. Supplementary +and detailed data were usually given long +afterwards, not as proof but as a part of the plan of +recording ultimate results. I had the precedents of +Stanley, Nordenskjöld, Nansen, Peary, and others.</p> + +<p>Had I anticipated the furore that was being raised +about proofs, I probably should have taken public +opinion into my consideration. So firm was my own +conviction of achievement that the difficulty of supplying +such absolute proof as the unique occasion afterwards +demanded never occurred to me. My feeling at +the time was that I was under no obligation to patrons, +to the Government, to any society, or anyone, and that I +had a right to deliver lectures at a time when public +interest was keyed up, and to prepare my detailed reports +at a time when I should have more leisure.</p> + +<p>My family needed money. Huge sums were +offered me hourly; I should have been unwise indeed +had I not accepted some of the offers. I am advised<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_496" id="Page_496">[Pg 496]</a></span> +that stories of enormous lecture profits have been told. +I am informed that the newspapers said I was to receive +$25,000 for going to St. Louis. The truth is that I got +less than half that, though I believe St. Louis probably +spent more than $25,000 in preparing for my appearance +there. All told, I delivered about twenty lectures +in various large cities, receiving from $1,000 to $10,000 +per lecture. My expenses were heavy, so that in the +end I netted less than $25,000. When I determined to +stop the lecture work and prepare my data, I canceled +$140,000 worth of lecture engagements.</p> + +<p>Each day there was a routine of lunches with +speeches, dinners with speeches, suppers with speeches. +The task of devising speeches was ever present; with me +it did not come easy. But speeches must be made, and +I felt a tense strain, as if something were drawing my +mentality from me.</p> + +<p>Everywhere I went crowds pressed about me. I +shook hands until the flesh of one finger was actually +worn through to the bone. Hundreds of people daily +came to see me.</p> + +<p>About this time, too, my bewildered brain began to +realize that I was also the object of most ferocious +attacks from many quarters. I had no time to read the +newspapers, and these charges and suspicions filtered in +to me through reporters and friends. Usually they +reached me in an exaggerated or a distorted form.</p> + +<p>There began at this time the publication of innumerable +fake interviews and stories misrepresenting +me.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> One interviewer quoted me as saying that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_497" id="Page_497">[Pg 497]</a></span> +Dagaard Jensen had seen my records, and therefore +confirmed my claim to the people in Copenhagen; +another that I said Governor Kraul of Greenland had +reported talking with my Eskimos, who had confirmed +my report. Dagaard Jensen justly denied this by +cable, as I had made no such statement. That about +Governor Kraul was absurd on the face of it, as he was +a thousand miles away from my Eskimos. I have no +means of knowing the embarrassing statements attributed +to me—things which were variously denied, and +which hurt me. There was not time for me to consider +or answer them.</p> + +<p>Then came the blow which almost stunned me—the +news that Harry Whitney had not been allowed by +Peary to bring my instruments and notes home with +him.</p> + +<p>During the long night at Cape Sparbo I had carefully +figured out and reduced most of my important +observations. The old, rubbed, oily, and torn field<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_498" id="Page_498">[Pg 498]</a></span> +notes, the instrumental corrections and the direct readings +were packed with the instruments, and these were +mostly left with Mr. Whitney. The figures were important +for future recalculation, but otherwise had not +seemed materially important to me, for they had served +their purpose. I had with me all the important data, +such as is usually given in a traveler's narrative. No +more had ever been asked before.</p> + +<p>Under ordinary circumstances, these instruments +and papers would not have been of great value, but +under the public excitement their importance was immensely +enhanced.</p> + +<p>I had publicly announced that Mr. Whitney would +bring these with him on the boat in which he was to +return. Had there been no notes and no instruments, I +hardly should have said this were I perpetrating a fraud, +for I should have known that the failure of Mr. Whitney +to supply these would provoke widespread suspicion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_499" id="Page_499">[Pg 499]</a></span> +This is just what happened. Had I foreseen the trouble +that resulted, I should have taken my instruments +with me to Upernavik, and have supplied my observations +and notes at once.</p> + +<p>As I have said before, I believed in an accomplishment +which I felt was largely personal, for which a +world excitement was not warranted and in which I had +such a sure confidence that I never thought of absolutely +accurate proof. This was my folly—for which +fate made me pay. Imagine my dismay, the heartsickness +which seized me when, through the din of tumult +and excitement, in the midst of suspicion, came the news +that Mr. Whitney had been forced by Mr. Peary to +take from the <i>Roosevelt</i> and bury the very material +with which I might have dispelled suspicion and quelled +the storm of unmerited abuse.</p> + +<p>The instruments carried on my northern trip, and +left with Mr. Whitney, and which he had seen, consisted +of one French sextant; one aluminum surveying compass, +with azimuth attachment, bought of Keuffer & +Essen, New York; one glass artifical horizon, set in a +thin metal frame, adjusted by spirit levels and thumbscrews, +bought of Hutchinson, Boston; one aneroid +barometer, aluminum, bought of Hicks; an aluminum +case with maximum and minimum spirit thermometer; +other thermometers, and one liquid compass.</p> + +<p>Other instruments used about stations were also +left. With these were papers giving some instrumental +corrections, readings, and comparisons, and other occasional +notes, and a small diary, mostly loose leaves, containing +some direct field reading of instruments and +meteorological data. These took up very little space;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_500" id="Page_500">[Pg 500]</a></span> +and, if I remember correctly, all were snugly packed in +one of the instrument cases.</p> + +<p>Mr. Whitney especially asked, as a personal favor, +the honor of caring for my flag. Later, after his return, +he said that as Mr. Peary had refused to let him take +aboard my things, he had no alternative but to bury +them at Etah. I have no complaint to make against +Mr. Peary about this. He was at liberty to pick the +freight of his own ship. But he later said: "His [Dr. +Cook's] leaving of his records at Etah was a scheme by +which he could claim that they were lost." If Mr. +Peary knew this, why did he not bring them?</p> + +<p>At the time I felt crippled; my feeling of disgust +with the problem, with myself, and with the situation +began. It would be impossible to give in my report a +continuous line of observations. I had no corrections +for the instruments. I knew they might vary. I had no +means of checking them. I had some copies of the original +data, but they were not complete. I should have to +rest my whole case on a report with reduced observations, +for I knew it would not be possible to send a ship +to Etah until the following year. And I also knew that +if Eskimos were not given strong explicit instructions +all would be lost.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, many apparently trivial accusations +against me were being widely discussed, which, never +refuted, had their weight in the long run in discrediting +my good faith. On every side I was attacked, not so +much for unintentional error, as for deliberate falsehood.</p> + +<p>In the bewildering days that followed—during +which I traveled to various cities to fulfill lecture +en<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_501" id="Page_501">[Pg 501]</a></span>gagements—I felt alone, a victim of such pressure as, I +believe, has seldom been the fate of any human being.</p> + +<p>Friends confused me as much as the attacks of foes. +Some advised one thing; others another; my brain staggered +with their well-meaning advice. Most of them +wanted me to "light out," as they expressed it, and +attack Mr. Peary. A number suggested the formation +of an organization, the work of which would be to issue +counter attacks on Mr. Peary, to be written by various +men, and to reply systematically to charges made +against me. Such a course was distasteful to me, and, +furthermore, the selfish, envious origin of all of Mr. +Peary's charges seemed evident.</p> + +<p>Many of the other attacks seemed so ridiculous that +I felt no one would believe them—which was another of +my many mistakes. The more serious charges I believed +could wait until I had time to sit down and reply +to them at length. I felt the futility of any fragmentary +retorts. At no time did I have an intelligent grasp +of the situation, of the excited and exaggerated interest +of the public, or of the fluctuating state of public +opinion.</p> + +<p>In my many years of Arctic work I had gathered +pictures of almost every phase of Arctic life and scene; +on subsequent trips, unless for some special reason, I did +not duplicate photographs of impregnable, unmeltable +headlands, or of walrus, or icebergs which I considered +typical. In the early rush for illustrative material I +gave a number of these to the <i>Herald</i>, stating they were +scenes I had passed, but which had been taken on an +earlier expedition. By some mistake, which is not +unusual in newspaper offices, one of these pictures was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_502" id="Page_502">[Pg 502]</a></span> +put under a caption, "Pictures of Dr. Cook's Polar +Trip," or something to this effect. Whereupon, Mr. +Herbert Bridgman, secretary of the Peary Arctic Club, +shouted aloud, "Fraud!" and others took up the cry. +A further charge that these pictures were not mine at +all, but had been stolen or borrowed from Herbert Berri, +was advanced—an absolute untruth, as I had the negatives, +from which these pictures were made, in my possession.</p> + +<p>What, in those early days, had seemed a serious +criticism offered against my claim, was that I had exceeded +possible speed limits by asserting an average of +about fifteen miles a day. The English critics were +particularly severe. According to their reading, this +had never been done before. Admiral Melville had +taken this up in America before my arrival; by the +time I got to New York, Mr. Peary had made a report +of twenty to forty-five miles daily under similar conditions, +and I asked myself the reason of the sudden hush.</p> + +<p>Much space was now given to the criticism by +learned men of my giving seconds in observations. The +point was taken that as you near the Pole the degrees +of longitude narrow, and seconds are of no consequence. +Therefore I was charged with trying to fake an impossible +accuracy. I always regarded seconds as of little +consequence, put them down as a matter of routine—for +in that snow-blinding, bewildering North I worked +more like a machine than a reasoning being—and now +the inadvertent use of these was used to cast suspicion +upon me.</p> + +<p>With this attack, like echoes from many places, +came reiterations of the criticism, which, polly-like, was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_503" id="Page_503">[Pg 503]</a></span> +taken up by Rear-Admiral Chester. Professor Stockwell +of Cleveland had earlier brought out this academic +discussion. Because I had seen the midnight sun for +the first time on April 7 it was claimed I must have +been at a more southern point of the globe than I believed. +At the time it seemed the only serious scientific +criticism of my reports which was used against me.</p> + +<p>Whether I was on a more southerly point of the +globe than I believed or not, I had not used the midnight +sun, seen through a mystic maze of unknowable refraction, +to determine position; to do so would have been +impossible. With a constant moving and grinding of +the ice, causing opening lanes of water, from which the +inequality of temperature drew an evaporation like +steam from a volcano, it is impossible at this season to +see a low sun with a clear horizon. One looks through +an opaque veil of blinding crystals. Every Arctic traveler +knows that even when the sun is seen on a clear +horizon, as it returns after the long night, his eyes are +deceived—he does not see the sun at all, but a refracted +image caused by the optical deception of atmospheric +distortions. For this reason, as I knew, all observations +of the sun when very low are worthless as a means +of determining position. The assumption that I had +done this seemed mere foolishness to me at the time.</p> + +<p>Staggered by the blow that Whitney had buried my +instruments in the North, the recurring thoughts of +these harassing charges certainly had no soothing effect.</p> + +<p>Alone, I was unable to cope with matters, anyway. +I under-estimated the effect of the cumulating attacks. +Oppressed by the undercurrent feeling that it was all a +fuss about very little, a thing of insignificant worth, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_504" id="Page_504">[Pg 504]</a></span> +disturbed by the growing uncertainty of proving such a +claim to the point of hair-breadth accuracy by any +figures, despair overcame me.</p> + +<p>I was so busy I could not pause to think, and was +conscious only of the rush, the labor, the worry. I no +longer slept; indigestion naturally seized me as its victim. +A mental depression brought desperate premonitions.</p> + +<p>I developed a severe case of laryngitis in Washington; +it got worse as I went to Baltimore and Pittsburg. +At St. Louis, where I talked before an audience said to +number twelve thousand persons, I could hardly raise +my voice above a whisper. The lecture was given with +physical anguish. I was feverish and mentally dazed. +Thereafter, day by day, my thoughts became less coherent; +I, more like a machine.</p> + +<p>I do not exaggerate when I say that there was +practically not one hour of pleasure in those troubled +days. The dinner which was given by the Arctic +travelers at the Waldorf-Astoria pleased me more than +anything during the entire experience. I felt the close +presence of hundreds of warm friends; I was conscious +of their good will.</p> + +<p>I can recall the ceremony of presenting the keys of +the City of New York to me, but I was so confused and +half ill that I was not in a condition to appreciate the +honor.</p> + +<p>After I had been on my lecture tour for a few +weeks, I began to feel persecuted. On every side I +sensed hostility; the sight of crowds filled me with a +growing sort of terror. I did not realize at the time +that I was passing from periods of mental depression to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_505" id="Page_505">[Pg 505]</a></span> +dangerous periods of nervous tension. I was pursued +by reporters, people with craning necks, good-natured +demonstrations of friendliness that irritated me. In the +trains I viewed the whirling landscape without, and felt +myself part of it—as a delirious man swept and hurtled +through space.</p> + +<p>I suppose I answered questions intelligently; like +an automaton delivered my lectures, shook hands. I +have been told I smiled pleasantly always—mentally I +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_506" id="Page_506">[Pg 506]</a></span> +was never conscious of a smile. It is strange how, machine-like, +a man can conduct himself like a reasonable +being when, mentally, he is at sea. I have read a great +deal about the subconscious mind; on no other theory +can I account for my rational conduct in public at the +time. Really, as I view myself from the angle of the +present, I marvel that a man so distraught did not do +desperate things.</p> + +<hr style="width: 10%;" /> +<div class="sblockquot"> +<p><i>Author's Note.</i>—I have never attempted to disprove Mr. Peary's +claim to having reached the North Pole. I prefer to believe that Mr. +Peary reached the North Pole.</p> + +<p>So avid have been my enemies, however, to cast discredit upon my +own achievement, by such trivial and petty charges, that it seems curious +they have never noticed or have remained silent about many striking and +staggering discrepancies in Mr. Peary's own published account of his +journey.</p> + +<p>In Mr. Peary's book, entitled "The North Pole; Its Discovery, 1909," +published by Frederick A. Stokes Company, on page 302, appears the +following:</p> + +<p>"We turned our backs upon the Pole at about four o'clock of the +afternoon of April 7."</p> + +<p>According to a statement made on page 304, Mr. Peary took time on +his return trip to take a sounding of the sea five miles from the Pole.</p> + +<p>On page 305, Mr. Peary says: "Friday, April 9, was a wild day. All +day long the wind blew strong from the north-northeast, increasing finally +to a gale." And on page 306: "We camped that night at 87° 47ʹ."</p> + +<p>Mr. Peary thus claims to have traveled from the Pole to this point, a +distance of 133 nautical miles, or 153 statute miles, in a little over two +days. This would average 76½ statute miles a day. Could a pedestrian +make such speed? During this time Mr. Peary camped twice, to make +tea, eat lunch, feed the dogs, and rest—several hours in each camp.</p> + +<p>Why I should never have gone out of sight of land for more than +two days, as he has charged, when such miraculous speed can be made on the +circumpolar sea, is something Mr. Peary might find interesting reasons to +explain.</p> + +<p>On page 310, Mr. Peary says: "We were coming down the North +Pole hill in fine shape now, and another double march, April 16-17, brought +us to our eleventh upward camp at 85° 8ʹ, one hundred and twenty-one +miles from Cape Columbia."</p> + +<p>According to this, Mr. Peary covered the distance from 87° 47ʹ, on +April 9, to 85° 8ʹ, on April 17—a distance of 159 nautical miles in eight +day. This averaged twenty miles a day.</p> + +<p>On page 316, he says: "It was almost exactly six o'clock on the +morning of April 23 when we reached the igloo of 'Crane City,' at Cape +Columbia, and the work was done."</p> + +<p>Mr. Peary left 85° 8ʹ on April 17, according to his statement, and +traveled 121 miles to Cape Columbia in six days, arriving on April 23. +This last stretch was at the rate of twenty miles a day. To sum up, he +traveled from the North Pole, according to his statements, to land, as +follows:</p> + +<p>The first 133 nautical miles southward in two days, at the rate of +66 nautical miles, or 76½ statute miles, a day; the last 279 nautical miles +in fourteen days, an average of 20 miles a day.</p> + +<p>According to Peary's book, Bartlett left him at 87° 46ʹ, and Mr. +Peary started on his final spurt to the Pole a little after midnight on the +morning of April 2. By arriving at the point where he left Bartlett on the +evening of April 9, he would have made the distance of 270 miles to +the Pole from this point and back, in a little over seven days.</p> + +<p>In the New York <i>World</i> of October 3, 1910, page 3, column 6, Matthew +Henson makes the following statement: "On the way up we had to break +a trail, and averaged only eighteen to twenty miles a day. On the way +back we had our own trail to within one hundred miles of land, and then +Captain Bartlett's trail. We made from twenty to forty miles a day."</p> + +<p>At the rate of twenty miles a day on the way up, which Henson +claims was made, it would have taken 6 days and 18 hours to cover the +distance of 135 miles from 87° 47ʹ to the Pole. Adding the thirty hours +Mr. Peary claims he spent at the Pole for observations, eight days would +have elapsed before they started back. Peary says the round trip of 270 +miles from 87° 47ʹ N. to the Pole and the return to the same latitude was +done in seven days and a few hours.</p> + +<p>Why has Mr. Peary never been asked to explain his miraculous speed +and the discrepancy between his statement and Henson's?</p> + +<p>Henson was Mr. Peary's sole witness. When Mr. Peary, in a framed-up +document, endeavors to disprove my claim by quoting my Eskimos, it +would be just as fair to apply Henson's words to disprove Peary.</p> + +<p>Moreover, inasmuch as Mr. Peary's partisans attacked my speed +limits when I made my first reports, does it not seem curious indeed that +they now accept as infallible, and <i>ex cathedra</i>, the published reports of +the almost supernatural feat in covering distance made by Mr. Peary?</p></div> + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_507" id="Page_507">[Pg 507]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE KEY TO THE CONTROVERSY</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">PEARY AND HIS PAST—HIS DEALING WITH RIVAL EXPLORERS—THE +DEATH OF ASTRUP—THE THEFT OF THE +"GREAT IRON STONE," THE NATIVES' SOLE SOURCE OF +IRON</p> + +<h3>XXXIII<br /> + +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Actions Which Call for Investigation</span></h3> + + +<p>Aiming to be retired from the Navy as a Captain, +with a comfortable pension; aiming eventually to wear +the stripes of a Rear-Admiral, which necessitated a promotion +over the heads of others in the normal line of +advancement, a second Polar victory, which was all that +Peary could honestly claim, was not sufficient. Something +must be done to destroy in the public eye the +merits of my achievement for the first attainment of the +Pole. I had reached the Pole on April 21, 1908. Mr. +Peary's claims were for April 6, 1909, a year later. To +destroy the advantage of priority of my conquest, and +to establish himself as the first and only one who had +reached the Pole, was now the one predominant effort +to which Mr. Peary and his coterie of conspirators set +themselves. To this end the cables were now made to +burn with an abusive campaign, which the press, eager +for sensations, took up from land's end to land's end,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_508" id="Page_508">[Pg 508]</a></span> +even to the two worlds. The wireless operators picked +up messages that were being thrown from ship to ship +and from point to point. Each carried unkind insinuations +coming from the lips of Mr. Peary. The press +and the public were induced to believe that Peary's +words came from one who was himself above the shadow +of suspicion. Their efforts, however, as we will see +later, did not differ from the battle of envy forced +against others before me, but it was now done more +openly.</p> + +<p>It was difficult to remain silent against such world-wide +slanders. But I reasoned that truth would ultimately +prevail, and that the rebound of the American +spirit of fair play would quell the storm.</p> + +<p>I had known for nearly a quarter of a century the +man for whom the press now attacked me. I had served +on two of his expeditions without pay; I had watched +his successes and his failures; I had admired his strong +qualities, and I had shivered with the shocks of his +wrongdoings. But still I did not feel that anything +was to be gained by retaliative abuse; and the truth +about him, out of charity, I hesitated to tell. No, I +argued, this warfare of the many against one, under the +dictates of envy, must ultimately bring to light its own +injustice.</p> + +<p>I had always reasoned that a quiet, dignified, non-assailing +bearing would be most effective in a battle of +this kind. Contrary to the general belief at the time, +this was not done out of respect for Mr. Peary; it +seemed the best means to a worthier end. But I did not +know at this time that the press, dog-like, jumps upon +him who maintains a non-attacking attitude. In mod<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_509" id="Page_509">[Pg 509]</a></span>ern +times, the old Christian philosophy of turning the +other cheek, as I have found, does not give the desired +results.</p> + +<p>The press, which, at my home-coming, had lavished +praise and glowing panegyric, now, as promptly, swung +completely around and heaped upon my head terms +of opprobrium and obloquy. Faked news items were +issued to discredit me by Peary's associates; editors +devoted space to jibes and sarcasms at my expense; +clever writers and cartoonists did their best to make my +name a humorous byword with my countrymen. Much +of this I did not know until long after.</p> + +<p>The suddenness of all this—the terrible injustice +and unreasonableness of it—simply overwhelmed me. +Arriving from the cruel North, completely spent in +body and in mind, the rest that I was urgently in need +of had been constantly denied me. Instead, I had been +caught up and held within a perfect maelstrom of excitement. +That excitement still ran like fever in my veins. +The plaudits of the multitude were still ringing in my +ears when this horror of a world's contumely burst on +my head. I could only bow my head and let the storm +spend itself about me. Sick at heart and dazed in mind, +conscious only of a vague disgust with all the world and +myself, I longed for respite and forgetfulness within +the bosom of my family.</p> + +<p>So, quietly, I decided to retire for a year, out of +reach of the yellow papers; out of reach of the grind of +the pro-Peary mill of infamy, still maintaining silence +rather than stoop to the indignity of showing up the +dark side of Mr. Peary's character. Having returned, +I hesitate to do it now; but the weaving of the leprous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_510" id="Page_510">[Pg 510]</a></span> +blanket of infamy with which Peary and his supporters +attempted to cover me cannot be understood unless we +look through Mr. Peary's eyes—regard other explorers +as he regarded them; regard the North as his inalienable +property as he did, and regard his infamous, high-handed +injustices as right.</p> + +<p>I have now decided to uncover the incentive of this +one-sided fight to which I have so long maintained a +non-attacking attitude. I had hoped, almost against +hope, that the public would ultimately understand, +without a word from me, the humbug of the mudslingers +who were attempting to defame my character. I had +felt sure that the hand which did the besmearing was +silhouetted clearly against the blackness of its own making. +But the storm of a sensation-seeking press later +so thickened the atmosphere that the public, from which +one has a sure guarantee of fair play, was denied a +clear view.</p> + +<p>Now that the storm has spent its force; now that +the hand which did the mudslinging has within its grasp +the unearned gain which it sought; now that a clear +point of observation can be presented, I am compelled, +with much reluctance and distaste, to reveal the +unpleasant and unknown past of the man who tried to +ruin me; showing how unscrupulous and brutal he was +to others before me; with evidence in hand, I shall +reveal how he wove his web of defamation and how his +friends conspired with him in the darkest, meanest and +most brazen conspiracy in the history of exploration.</p> + +<p>In doing this, my aim is not to challenge Mr. +Peary's claim, but to throw light on unwritten pages of +history, which pages furnish the key to unlock the long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_511" id="Page_511">[Pg 511]</a></span>closed +door of the Polar controversy and the pro-Peary +conspiracy.</p> + +<p>From the earliest days, Mr. Peary's effort to reach +the Pole was undertaken primarily for purposes of +personal commercial gain. For twenty years he has +passed the hat along lines of easy money. That hat +would be passing to-day if the game had not been, in the +opinion of many, spoiled by my success.</p> + +<p>For nearly twenty years he sought to be promoted +over the heads of stay-at-home but hardworking naval +officers. During all of this time, while on salary as a +naval officer, he was away engaged in private enterprises +from which hundreds of thousands of dollars went +into his pockets. By wire-pulling and lobbying he +succeeded in having the American Navy pay him an unearned +salary. Such a man could not afford to divide +the fruits of Polar attainment with another.</p> + +<p>In 1891, as the steamer <i>Kite</i> went north, Mr. Peary +began to evince the brutal, selfish spirit which later was +shown to every explorer who had the misfortune to cross +his trail. Nansen had crossed Greenland; his splendid +success was in the public eye. Mr. Peary attempted to +belittle the merited applause by saying that Nansen had +borrowed the "Peary system." But Peary had borrowed +the Nordenskiold system, without giving credit. +A few months later, Mr. John M. Verhoeff, the meteorologist +of the <i>Kite</i> expedition, was accorded such unbrotherly +treatment that he left his body in a glacial +crevasse in preference to coming home on the same ship +with Mr. Peary. This man had paid $2,000 for the +privilege of being Peary's companion.</p> + +<p>Eivind Astrup, another companion of Peary, a few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_512" id="Page_512">[Pg 512]</a></span> +years later was publicly denounced because he had +written a book on his own scientific observations and +did work which Peary had himself neglected to do. +This attempt to discredit a young, sensitive explorer +was followed by his mental unbalancement and suicide.</p> + +<p>About 1897, Peary took from the people of the +Farthest North the Eskimos' treasured "Star Stone." +At some remote period in the unknown history of the +frigid North, thousands of years ago, when, possibly, +the primitive forefathers of the Eskimos were perishing +from inability to obtain food in that fierce war waged +between Nature and crude, blindly struggling, aboriginal +life because of a lack of weapons with which to +kill, there swiftly, roaringly, descended from the mysterious +skies a gigantic meteoric mass of burning, white-hot +iron. Whence it came, those dazed and startled +people knew not; they regarded it, as their descendants +have regarded it, with baffled mystified terror; later, +with reverence, gratitude, and a feeling akin to awe. +Gazing skyward, in the long, starlit nights, there undoubtedly +welled up surgingly in the wild hearts of +these innocent, Spartan children of nature, a feeling of +vague, instinctive wonder at the Power which swung +the boreal lamps in heaven; which moves the worlds in +space; which sweeps in the northern winds, and which, +for the creatures of its creation, apparently consciously, +and often by means seemingly miraculous, provides +methods of obtaining the sources of life. As the meteor +and its two smaller fragments cooled, the natives, by +the innate and adaptive ingenuity of aboriginal man, +learned to chip masses from it, from which were shaped +knives and arrows and spearheads. It became their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_513" id="Page_513">[Pg 513]</a></span> +mine of treasure, more precious than gold; it was their +only means of making weapons for obtaining that which +sustained life. With new weapons, they developed the +art of spear-casting and arrow-throwing. As the centuries +passed, animals fell easy prey to their skill; the +starvation of elder ages gave way to plenty.</p> + +<p>The arm of God, it is said in the Scriptures, is long. +From the far skies it extended to these people of an +ice-sheeted, rigorous land, that they might survive, this +miraculous treasure. It seemed, however, that the arm +of man, in its greed, proved likewise long; and as the +strange providence which gave these people their chief +means of killing was kind, so the arm of man was cruel.</p> + +<p>In 1894, R. E. Peary, regarding the Arctic world +as his own, the people as his vassals, came north, and a +year later took from these natives, without their consent, +the two smaller fragments. In 1897 he took "The +Tent," or Great Iron Stone, the natives' last and one +source of mineral wealth and ancestral treasure. That +it was these people's great source of securing metal +meant nothing to him; that it was a scientific curio, +whereby he might secure a specious credit from the +well-fed armchair gentlemen of science at home, meant +much to the man who later did not hesitate to employ +methods of dishonor to try to secure exclusive credit of +the achievement of the Pole. Just as he later tried to +rob me of honor, so he ruthlessly took from these people +a thing that meant abundance of game—and game +there meant life.</p> + +<p>The great "Iron Stone" was hauled aboard the +S. S. <i>Hope</i>, and brought to New York. Today it reposes +in the Museum of Natural History—a bulky,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_514" id="Page_514">[Pg 514]</a></span> +black heap of metal, which can be viewed any day by the +well-fed and curious. In the North, where he will +not go again to give his mythical "abundance of guns +and ammunition," the Eskimos need the metal which +was sold to Mrs. Morris K. Jesup (who presented it to +the museum) for $40,000. That money went into Mr. +Peary's pockets. In a land where laws existed this act +would be regarded as a high-handed, monumental and +dishonorable theft. One who might attempt now to +purloin the ill-gotten hulk from the museum would be +prosecuted. Taken from the people to whose ancestors +it was sent, as if by a providence that is divine, and +to whom it meant life, it gave Mr. Peary so-called scientific +honors among his friends. In the name of religion, +it has been said, many crimes have been committed. It +remained for this man to reveal what atrocious things +could be done in the fair name of science.</p> + +<p>At about the same time a group of seven or eight +Eskimos were put aboard a ship against their will and +brought to New York for museum purposes. They +were locked up in a cellar in New York, awaiting a +market place. Before the profit-time arrived, because +of unhygienic surroundings and improper food, all but +one died. When in the grip of death, through a Mrs. +Smith, who ministered to their last wants, they +appealed with tears in their eyes for some word from +Mr. Peary. They begged that he extend them the +attention of visiting them before their eyes closed to a +world of misery and trouble. There came no word and +no responsive call from the man who was responsible +for their suffering. Of seven or eight innocent wild +people, but one little child survived. That one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_515" id="Page_515">[Pg 515]</a></span>—Mene—was +later even denied a passage back to his +fathers' land by Mr. Peary.</p> + +<p>A few years later, the Danish Literary Expedition +visited the northernmost Eskimos in their houses. The +splendid hospitality shown the Danes by the Eskimos +saved their lives. The Danish people, aiming to +express their gratitude for this unselfish Eskimo kindness, +sent a ship to their shores on the following year, +loaded with presents, at an expenditure of many thousands +of kroner. That ship, under the direction of Captain +Schoubye, left at North Star great quantities of +food, iron and wood. After the Danes had turned their +backs, Mr. Peary came along and deliberately, high-handedly, +took many of the things. This story is told +today by every member of the tribe whom Peary claims +to have befriended, whom he calls "my people."</p> + +<p>The sad story of the unavoidable deaths by starvation +of the members of General Greely's Expedition has +for years been issued and reissued to the press by Mr. +Peary and his press agents, in such form as to discredit +General Greely and his co-workers. His own inhuman +doings about Cape Sabine and the old Greely stamping-grounds +have been suppressed.</p> + +<p>In 1901 the ship <i>Erik</i> left Mr. Peary, with a large +group of native helpers, near Cape Sabine. An +epidemic, brought by the Peary ship, soon after attacked +the Eskimos. Many died; others survived to endure a +slow torture. Peary had no doctor and no medicine. +In the year previous, Peary had shown the same spirit +to the ever faithful Dr. Dedrick that he had shown to +Verhoeff, to Astrup, and to others. Although Dedrick +could not endure Peary's unfairness, he remained,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_516" id="Page_516">[Pg 516]</a></span> +against instructions, within reach for just such an +emergency as this epidemic presented. He offered his +services when the epidemic broke out, but Peary refused +his offer, and allowed the natives to die rather than +permit a competent medical expert to attend the +afflicted.</p> + +<p>Near the same point, a year later, Captain Otto +Sverdrup wintered with his ship. His mission was to +explore the great unknown to the west. This unexplored +country had been under Mr. Peary's eye for ten +years; but instead of exploring it, his time was spent in +an easy and comparatively luxurious life about a +comfortable camp. When Sverdrup's men visited the +Peary ship, they were denied common brotherly courtesy +and were refused the hospitality which is universally +granted, by an unwritten law, to all field workers. Mr. +Peary even refused to send him, on his returning ship, +important letters and papers which Sverdrup desired +taken back. He also refused to allow Sverdrup to take +native guides and dogs-which did not belong to Mr. +Peary. This same courtesy was later denied to Captain +Bernier, of the Canadian Expedition.</p> + +<p>Thus attempting to make a private preserve of the +unclaimed North, he attempted to discredit and thwart +every other explorer's effort. In line with the same +policy, every member of every Peary expedition has +been muzzled with a contract which prevented talking +or writing after the expedition's return—contracts by +which Mr. Peary derived the sole credit, the entire +profit, and all the honor of the results of the men who +volunteered their services and risked their lives. This +same spirit was shown at the time when, at 87° 45ʺ, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_517" id="Page_517">[Pg 517]</a></span> +turned Captain Bartlett back, because he (Peary), to +use his own words, "wanted all the honors."</p> + +<p>In profiting by his long quest for funds for legitimate +exploration, we find Peary engaged in private +enterprises for which public funds were used. Much of +this money was, in my judgment, used to promote a +lucrative fur and ivory trade, while the real effort of +getting to the Pole was delayed, seemingly, for commercial +gain. I believe the Pole might have been +reached ten years earlier. But delay was profitable.</p> + +<p>After being thus engaged for years in a propaganda +of self-exploitation, in assailing other explorers +whom he regarded as rivals, in committing deeds in the +North unworthy of an American and officer of the +Navy, Peary, knowing that I had started Poleward, +knowing that relief must inevitably be required, ultimately +appropriated my supplies, and absolutely prevented +any effort to reach me, which even the natives +themselves might have made. Peary knew he was +endangering my life. He knew that he was getting +ivory and furs in return for supplies belonging to me, +and which I should need. He knew, also, that it would +not coincide with his selfish purposes of appropriating +all honor and profit if I reached the Pole and should +return and tell the world. His deliberate act was in +itself—whether so designed or not—an effort to kill a +brother explorer. The stains of at least a dozen other +lives are on this man.</p> + +<p>The property which Peary took from Francke and +myself, with the hand of a buccaneer and the heart of a +hypocrite, was worth thirty-five thousand dollars. This +was done, not to insure expedition needs, but to satisfy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_518" id="Page_518">[Pg 518]</a></span> +a hunger for commercial gain, and to inflict a cowardly, +underhanded injury on a rival. All of my caches, my +camp equipment, my food, were taken; and under his +own handwriting he gave the orders which deprived me +of all relief efforts at a time when relief was of vital +importance. Certainly to all appearances this was a +deliberate, preconceived plan to kill a rival worker by +starvation. Here we find an American naval officer +stooping to a trick for which he would be hanged in a +mining camp.</p> + +<p>Many members of his expeditions, some rough seamen, +speak with shuddering of his actions in that far-away +North. In my possession are affidavits, voluntarily +made and given to me by members of Mr. Peary's +expeditions, revealing gross actions, which, in an officer +of the Navy, call for investigation. Mention has been +made of certain facts, because, only by knowing these +things, can people understand the spirit and character +of the man and the unscrupulous attacks made upon +me, and understand, also, why, out of a sense of delicacy +and dislike for mudslinging, I remained silent so +long. It is only because the public has been misled by +a sensational press, because I realize I have suffered by +my own silence, in order that history may know the full +truth and accord a just verdict, that with reluctance, +with a sense of shuddering distaste, I have been compelled +to present these unpleasant pages of unwritten +Arctic history.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Peary and his partisans attacked me +they hesitated at nothing that was untrue, cruel and +dishonorable—forgery and perjury even seemed justifiable +to them in their effort to discredit me. I still<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_519" id="Page_519">[Pg 519]</a></span> +hesitate to speak of certain unworthy, unblushing and +utterly cruel acts of which Mr. Peary is guilty. I +would have preferred to remain silent about the actions +of which I have told.</p> + +<p>Assuming the attitude of one above reproach, Peary, +upon his return, assailed me as a dishonest person who +tried to rob him of honor. Had the actual and full +truths been told at the time about Peary's life in the +North, his charges would have rebounded annihilatingly +upon himself. For certain things the people of this +country, who are clean, honest and fair, will not stand. +The facts told about Peary in the affidavits given me +make his charges of dishonor and dishonesty against +me a travesty, indeed. Yet, at a time when I might +have profited by revealing phases of Mr. Peary's personal +character, I preferred to remain silent. Of certain +things men do not care to speak. Although Mr. Peary +and his friends endeavored to make the Polar +controversy a personal one, I regarded Mr. Peary's +personal actions as having no bearing upon his, or my, +having attained the Pole. He and his friends forced a +personal fight; they tried to injure my veracity, my +reputation for truth-telling, my personal honor. I had +hoped against hope that the truth would resolve itself +without any necessity of my revealing elements of Mr. Peary's +character. I have herein recited pages from his +past, known to Arctic explorers but not to the general +public, so that his attitude toward me may be understood. +Yet all, indeed, has not been told. Although +Mr. Peary did not scruple to lie about me, I still hesitate +to tell the full truth about him.</p> + +<p>In the white, frozen North a tragedy was enacted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_520" id="Page_520">[Pg 520]</a></span> +which would bring tears to the hearts of all who possess +human tenderness and kindness. This has never been +written. To write it would still further reveal the ruthlessness, +the selfishness, the cruelty of the man who tried +to ruin me. Yet here I prefer the charity of silence, +where, indeed, charity is not at all merited.</p> + +<p>The knowledge of these facts tempered the shocks +I felt when the Peary campaign of defamation was +first made against me. I told myself that a man who +had done these things would, in the nature of things, be +branded by the truth, as he deserved.</p> + +<p>I was not so greatly surprised that Peary tried to +steal my honor. I knew that he had stolen tangible +things. Yet the theft of food, even though a man's life +depends upon it, is not so awful as the attempt to steal +the good name a father hopes to bequeath his children. +Yet Peary has attempted to do this.</p> + +<p>He has attempted to blacken me in the eyes of +my family; but, with the conscience of a brute, he has +deserted two of his own children—left them to starve +and freeze in the cheerless north. They are there +today crying for food and a father, while he enjoys a +life of luxury at the expense of the American tax-payers. +This statement calls for an investigation by +the Secretary of the Navy. See photograph of the +deserted child of the Sultan of the North, facing page +493.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_521" id="Page_521">[Pg 521]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE MT. McKINLEY BRIBERY</h2> + +<p class="blockquot">THE BRIBED, FAKED AND FORGED NEWS ITEMS—THE PRO-PEARY +MONEY POWERS ENCOURAGE PERJURY—MT. +M'KINLEY HONESTLY CLIMBED—HOW, FOR PEARY, +A SIMILAR PEAK WAS FAKED</p> + +<h3>XXXIV<br /> + +<br /> + +<span class="smcap">How a Man's Soul Was Marketed</span></h3> + + +<p>After Mr. Peary had done his utmost to try to +disprove my Polar attainment; after the chain of newspapers +which, for him, in conjunction with the New +York <i>Times</i>, had printed the same egregious lies on the +same days, from the Atlantic to the Pacific; after they +had expended all possible ammunition, the damages +inflicted were still insufficient. My narrative, as published +in the New York <i>Herald</i>, was still more generally +credited than Mr. Peary's. To gain his end, something +else had to be done. Something else was done. The +darkest page of defamation in the world's history of +exploration was now written by the hands of bribers +and perjurers.</p> + +<p>The public suddenly turned from the newspaper-inculcated +idea of "proof" in figures to a more sane +examination of personal veracity. To destroy my +reputation for truth in the public mind was the next<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_522" id="Page_522">[Pg 522]</a></span> +unscrupulous effort decided upon. The selfish and +self-evident press campaign, obviously managed by the +Peary cabal, to that end had given unsatisfactory results. +Some vital blow must be delivered by fair means +or otherwise.</p> + +<p>The climb of Mt. McKinley was now challenged.</p> + +<p>I had made a first ascent of the great mid-Alaskan +peak in 1906. The record of that conquest was published +during my absence in the North, under the title, +"To the Top of the Continent." The book, being +printed at a time when I was unable to see the proofs, +contained some mistakes; but in it was all the data that +could be presented for such an undertaking.</p> + +<p>The Board of Aldermen of the City of New York +decided to honor me by offering the keys and the freedom +of the metropolis on October 15. This was to be +an important event. The pro-Peary conspiracy aiming +to deliver striking blows through the press, their propaganda +was so planned that the bribed, faked and forged +news items were issued on days which gave them +dramatic and psychologic climaxes. Two days before +the New York demonstration in my favor, the pretentious +full-page broadside of distorted Eskimo information +was issued. This fell flat; for it was instantly seen +to be a pretentious rearrangement of old charges. But +it was so played up as to fill columns of newspaper +space and impress readers by its magnitude. This was +followed by the Barrill affidavit, similarly played up so +as to fill a full newspaper page, which I shall analyze +later. All this was done to draw a black cloud +over the day of honor in New York, the 15th day of +October.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_523" id="Page_523">[Pg 523]</a></span></p> + +<p>Since the published affidavit of my old associate, +Barrill, was a document which proved him a self-confessed +liar; since the affidavit carried with it the +earmarks of pro-Peary bribery and perjury, I reasoned +again that fair-minded people would in time see through +this moneyed campaign of dishonor. In all history it +has been shown that he who seeks to besmear others +usually leaves the greatest amount of mud on himself. +But again I had not counted on the unfairness of the +press.</p> + +<p>The only reason given that I should have faked the +climb of Mt. McKinley is that, in some vague way, I +was to profit mightily by a successful report. The +expedition was to have been financed by a rich Philadelphia +sportsman. He did advance the greater portion +of the sum required. We were to prepare a game +trail for him. Something interfered, he relinquished his +trip, and did not send the balance of money promised.</p> + +<p>The result was that many checks I had given out +went to protest. Harper & Brothers had agreed, before +starting, to pay me $1,500 for an account of the expedition, +whether successful or not. On my return this was +paid, and went to meet outstanding debts—debts to pay +which I embarrassed myself. Instead of "profits" from +this alleged "fake," I suffered a loss of several thousand +dollars.</p> + +<p>As is quite usual in all exploring expeditions, some +of the members of my Mt. McKinley expedition, who +did not share in the final success, were disgruntled. +Chief among these was Herschell Parker. Owing to +ill-health and inexperience, Parker had proved himself +inefficient in Alaskan work. Climbing a little peak<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_524" id="Page_524">[Pg 524]</a></span> +forty miles from the great mountain, when he was with +me, he had pronounced Mt. McKinley unclimbable. +Climbing a similar hill, four years later, he stooped to +the humbug of offering a photograph of it as a parallel +to my picture of the top of Mt. McKinley. This man +was so ill-fitted for such work that two men were required +to help him mount a horse. But I insisted that +we continue at least to the base of the mountain. At +the first large glacier, Parker and his companion, +Belmore Brown, balked, halting in front of an insignificant +ice-wall. The ascent of Mt. McKinley, still thirty-five +miles off, they said, was impossible. Parker returned, +and in a trail of four thousand miles to New +York told every press representative how impossible was +the ascent of Mt. McKinley. By the time Parker +reached New York a cable went through that the thing +was done. At a point four thousand miles from the +scene of action, he again cried, "Impossible!" When I +returned to New York, however, a month later, and +Parker learned the details, he publicly and privately +credited my ascent of Mt. McKinley. Nothing further +was said to doubt the climb until two years later, when +he lined up with the Peary interests.</p> + +<p>Using Parker as a tool, Peary's Arctic Club, +through him, first forced the side-issue of Mt. McKinley. +With the Barrill affidavit, made later, were +printed other affidavits by Barrill's friends, who had not +been within fifty miles of the mountain when it was +climbed. This act, to me, was a bitter climax of injustice. +But I have since learned that Printz got $500 of +pro-Peary money; that both Miller and Beecher were +promised large amounts, but were cheated at the "show<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_525" id="Page_525">[Pg 525]</a></span>down." +Printz afterwards wrote that he would make +an affidavit for me for $300, and at Missoula he made +an affidavit in which he attempted to defend me.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> This +he offered to sell to Roscoe Mitchell for $1,000.</p> + +<p>While easy pro-Peary money was passing in the +West, Parker came forward with his old grudge. His +chief contention was that, because he had taken home +with him in deserting the object of the expedition a +hypsometer, I could not have measured the high altitudes +claimed. The altitude had been measured by +triangulation by the hydrographer of the expedition, +but I had other methods of measuring the ascent.</p> + +<p>I had two aneroid barometers, specially marked for +very high climbing, thermometers, and all the usual +Alpine instruments. The hypsometer was not at that +time an important instrument. Parker also showed +unfair methods by allowing the press repeatedly to print +that he had been the leader and the organizer of the +expedition. This he knew to be false. I had organized +two expeditions to explore Mt. McKinley, at a cost of +$28,000. Of this Parker had furnished $2,500. Parker +took no part in the organization of the last expedition, +had given no advice to help supply an adequate equipment, +and in the field his presence was a daily handicap +to the progress of the expedition. Heretofore, this was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_526" id="Page_526">[Pg 526]</a></span> +never indicated. But when he allows himself to be +quoted as the leader of an expedition upon which he +attempts to throw discredit, then it is right that all the +facts be known.</p> + +<p>In the press reports, when Parker was first heard +from, came the news that on the Pacific coast, at +Tacoma, a lawyer by the name of J. M. Ashton was +retained by someone. To the press Ashton said he was +engaged "to look into the McKinley business," but he +did not know by whom—whether by Cook or Peary. +He was "engaged" in a business too questionable to tell +who furnished the money.</p> + +<p>In the final ascent of Mt. McKinley there was with +me Edward Barrill, the affidavit-maker. He was a +good-natured and hard-working packer, who had +proved himself a most able climber. Together we +ascended the mountain in September, 1906. To this +time (1909) there was not the slightest doubt about the +footprints on the top of the great mountain. Barrill +had told everybody that he knew, and all who would +listen to him, that the mountain was climbed. He went +from house to house boastfully, with my book under his +arm, telling and retelling the story of the ascent of Mt. +McKinley. That anyone should now believe the affidavit, +secured and printed for Peary, did not to me +seem reasonable.</p> + +<p>Parker, filling the position of betrayer and traitor +to one who had saved his life many times, had decided, +as the Polar controversy opened, to direct the Mt. +McKinley side-issue of the pro-Peary effort.</p> + +<p>The first news of bribery in the matter came from +Darby, Montana. This was Barrill's home town. A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_527" id="Page_527">[Pg 527]</a></span> +Peary man from Chicago was there. He frankly said +that he would pay Barrill $1,000 to offer news that +would discredit the climb of Mt. McKinley. Other +news of the dishonest pro-Peary movement induced me +to send Roscoe Mitchell, of the New York <i>Herald</i>, to +the working ground of the bribers. Mitchell was +working under the direction of my attorneys, H. Wellington +Wack, of New York, Colonel Marshal, of +Missoula, and General Weed, of Helena, Montana.</p> + +<p>Mitchell secured testimony and evidence regarding +the buying of Barrill, but was unable to put the conspirators +in jail. At Hamilton, Montana, there had +appeared a man with $5,000 to pass to Barrill. Barrill's +first reply was that he had climbed the mountain; +that Dr. Cook had climbed the mountain; that to take +that $5,000, in his own words, he "would have to sell his +own soul." Barrill's business partner, Bridgeford, +was present. He later made an affidavit for Mr. +Mitchell covering this part of the pro-Peary perjury +effort.</p> + +<p>A little later, however, Barrill said to his partner +he "might as well see what was in it." Five thousand +dollars to Barrill meant more than five million dollars to +Mr. Peary or his friends. To Barrill, ignorant, poor, +good-natured, but weak, it was an irresistible +temptation.</p> + +<p>Barrill now went to Seattle. He visited the office +of the Seattle <i>Times</i>. In the presence of the editor, +Mr. Joe Blethen, he dickered for the sale of an affidavit +to discredit me. He knew such an affidavit had news +value. Indefinite offers ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 +were made. Not getting a lump sum off-hand, Barrill,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_528" id="Page_528">[Pg 528]</a></span> +dissatisfied, then went over to Tacoma, to the mysterious +Mr. Ashton. That all this was done, was told me on +my trip west shortly afterward, by Mr. Blethen himself.</p> + +<p>After visiting Ashton, Barrill was seen in a bank +in Tacoma. Barrill had said to his partner that to make +an affidavit denying my climb would be "selling his +soul." Barrill, ill at ease, reluctant, appeared. It is a +terrible thing to lure a weak man to dishonor; it is still +more tragic and awful when that man is bought so his +lie may hurt another. The time for the parting of his +soul had arrived in the bank. With the sadness of a +funeral mourner Barrill was pushed along. The talk was +in a muffled undertone. But it all happened. In the presence +of a witness, whose evidence I am ready to produce, +$1,500 was passed to him. This money was paid in +large bills, and placed in Barrill's money-belt. There +were other considerations, and I know where some of +this money was spent. His soul was marketed at last. +The infamous affidavit was then prepared.</p> + +<p>This affidavit was printed first in the New York +<i>Globe</i>. The <i>Globe</i> is partly owned and entirely controlled +by General Thomas H. Hubbard, the President +of the Peary Club. With General Hubbard, Mr. Peary +had consulted at Bar Harbor immediately after his +return from Sydney. Together they had outlined their +campaign. General Hubbard is a multi-millionaire. +A tremendous amount of money was spent in the Peary +campaign. In the Mt. McKinley affidavit of Barrill +we can trace bribery, a conspiracy, and black dishonor, +right up to the door of R. E. Peary.</p> + +<p>If Peary is not the most unscrupulous self-seeker +in the history of exploration, caught in underhand, sur<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_529" id="Page_529">[Pg 529]</a></span>reptitious +acts too cowardly to be credited to a thief, +caught in the act of bartering for men's souls and honor +in as ruthless a way as he high-handedly took others' +property in the North; if he, drawing an unearned +salary from the American Navy, has not brindled his +soul with stripes that fit his body for jail, let him come +forward and reply. If Peary is not the most conscienceless +of self-exploiters in all history, caught in the +act of stealing honor by forcing dishonor, let him come +forward and explain the Mt. McKinley perjury.</p> + +<p>Now let us examine the others who were lined up +in this desperate black hand movement. In New +York there is a club, at first organized to bring explorers +together and to encourage original research. It +bore the name of Explorers' Club; but, as is so often the +case with clubs that monopolize a pretentious name, the +membership degenerated. It is now merely an association +of museum collectors. Among real explorers, +this club to-day is jocularly known as the "Worm +Diggers' Union." In 1909 Mr. Peary was president. +His press agent, Bridgman, was the moving spirit, and +one of Colonel Mann's muck-rakers was secretary. Of +course, such a society, committed to Peary, had no use +for Dr. Cook.</p> + +<p>In a spirit of helping along the pro-Peary conspiracy, +and after the Barrill affidavit was secured, the +Explorers' Club took upon itself the supererogatory +duty of appointing a committee to pass on my ascent of +Mt. McKinley. There was but one real explorer on +this committee. The others were kitchen geographers, +whose honor and fairness had been bartered to the Peary +interests before the investigation began. Without a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_530" id="Page_530">[Pg 530]</a></span> +line of data before them, they decided, with glee and +gusto, that Mt. McKinley had not been climbed. This +was what one would expect from such an honor-blind +group of meddlers. But Mr. Peary's press worker, +Bridgman, who himself had engineered the investigation, +used this seeming verdict of experts to Mr. Peary's +advantage.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>Still all these combined underhanded efforts failed +to reach vital spots and to turn the entire public Mr. +Peary's way. Something more must still be done, +Peary's press agent offered $3,000, and the cowardly +Ashton, of Tacoma, offered another $3,000, to send an +expedition to Alaska, to further the pro-Peary effort to +down a rival. The traitor, Parker, responded. He was +joined by the other quitter, Belmore Brown, who has +conveniently forgotten to return borrowed money to me. +This Peary-Parker-Brown combination went to Alaska +in 1910, engaged in mining pursuits and hunting adventures. +They returned with the expected and framed report +that Mt. McKinley had not been climbed, and that +they had climbed a snow-hill, had photographed it, and +that the photograph was similar to mine of the topmost +peak of Mt. McKinley. Mt. McKinley has a base twenty-five +miles wide; it has upon the various slopes of its +giant uplift hundreds of peaks, all glacial, polished, and +of a similar contour. No one peak towers gigantically +above the others. On the top are many peaks, no par<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_531" id="Page_531">[Pg 531]</a></span>ticular +one of which can with any accuracy of inches be +decided arbitrarily as the very highest. The top of a +mountain does not converge to a pin-point apex. One +looks out, not into immediate space on all sides, but +over an area, as I have said, of many peaks. My +photograph of the peak, which loomed highest among +the others on the top, possesses a profile not unusual +among ice-cut rocks. The Peary-Parker-Brown seekers +tried hard to duplicate this photograph, so as to +show I had faked my picture. The thing might have +been done easily in the Canadian Rockies. It could be +done in a dozen more accessible places in Alaska; but, +without real work, it could be only crudely done near +Mt. McKinley. The photograph which Peary's friends +offered to discredit the first ascent is one of a double +peak, part of which vaguely suggests but a poor outline +of Mt. McKinley, and in which a rock has been faked. +Who is responsible for this humbug? Where is the +negative? The photograph bears no actual semblance +to my picture of the top of Mt. McKinley whatever. +But why was the negative faked? Parker excuses the +evident unfairness of the dissimilar photograph by saying +that he could not get the same position as I must +have had. But is laziness or haste an excuse when a +man's honor is assailed.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_532" id="Page_532">[Pg 532]</a></span></p> + +<p>Let us follow the Peary high-handed humbugs +further. To the southeast of Mt. McKinley is a huge +mountain, which I named Mt. Disston in 1905. This +peak was robbed of its name, and over it Parker wrote +Mt. Huntington. To the northeast of Mt. McKinley +is another peak, charted on my maps, to which Peary +gave the name of the president of the Peary Arctic +Trust. To this peak was given the same name, by the +same methods of stealing the credit of other explorers, +as that adopted by Peary when, in response to $25,000 +of easy money, he wrote the same name, "Thomas Hubbard," +over Sverdrup's northern point of Heiberg +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_533" id="Page_533">[Pg 533]</a></span>Land. Can it be doubted that the Peary-Parker-Brown +propaganda of hypocrisy and dishonor in Alaska +is guided by no other spirit than that of Mr. Peary?</p> + +<p>Many persons say: "We will credit Dr. Cook's +attainment of the Pole if this Mt. McKinley matter is +cleared up." I have heard this often. I have offered +in my book proofs of the climb—the same proofs any +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_534" id="Page_534">[Pg 534]</a></span>mountain-climber offers. To discredit these, my enemies +stooped to bribery. I have in my possession, and +have stated here, proofs of this. Such proofs are even +more tangible than the climbing of a far-away mountain. +Is any other clarifier or any other evidence +required to prove the pro-Peary frauds?</p> + + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<h4>THE PEARY-PARKER-BROWN HUMBUG UP TO DATE</h4> + +<p>This chapter is best closed by an analysis of the second effort of Parker +and Brown. It will be remembered that in their first venture as hirelings of the +Peary propaganda, they balked at the north-east ridge, without making a serious +attempt. This ridge—(the ridge upon which I had climbed to the top of Mt. +McKinley) was pronounced impossible and therefore my claim in their judgment +was false, for such a statement $3,000.00 had been paid. During the spring +of 1912, again with $5,000 of Pro-Peary money to discredit me—The same hirelings +went through the range, attacked the same ridge from the west and by the +really able efforts of their guide, La Voy, a point near the top was reached. The +Associated Press report of this effort said that the principal result of the expedition +was to show that the north-east ridge (the ridge which I had climbed), was +climbable. The very men sent out and paid, therefore, by my enemies to disprove +my work have proven, against their will, my first ascent of Mt. McKinley.</p> + + +<p>Two other exploring parties were about the slopes of Mt. McKinley during +the time of the Peary-Parker defamers. The first, a group of hardy Alaskan +pioneers, whose report is written in the Overland Magazine for February, 1913, +by Ralph H. Cairns—after an unbiased study of reports both for and against, +Cairns credits my first ascent. The well known Engineer R. C. Bates, who as a +U. S. revenue inspector of mines and an explorer and mountain climber, did much +pioneer work about Mt. McKinley. He also goes on record in the Los Angeles +Tribune of February 13th, 1913, as saying: "Dr. Cook really succeeded in ascending +the north-east ridge of Mt. McKinley as claimed in 1906." Bates confirms +the charge of $5,000 being paid the Parker-Brown expedition to refute my 1906 +ascent, and says: "In 1906 Dr. Cook claimed he climbed Mt. McKinley by the +north-east ridge. In the account of the 1910 expedition, Parker claimed that +'the north-east ridge, the one used by Dr. Cook, was absolutely unsurmountable'. +I, with a party of two, explored the mountain in 1911 and selected the north-east +ridge as the only feasible route to the top. I ascended to 11,000 feet, according +to barometric measure. I told of the exploit to members of the Parker party, +who took the same course in 1912. Mr. Parker now contradicts his former statement +by saying, 'The north-east ridge is the only feasible ridge, and whoever +goes up will follow in my footsteps.'" It is important to note that Dr. Cook's +previous footsteps were eliminated, $5,000 had been paid for that very purpose.</p> + +<p>In a personal interview Mr. Bates made the very grave change that one +of the leaders of the very expedition sent out to discredit me, had offered him +a bribe to swear falsely to certain assessment work on claims which had not been +done. The Peary-Parker-Brown movement is therefore from many sources a +proven propaganda of bribery, conspiracy and perjury. That such men can escape +the doom of prison cells is a parody upon human decency, and yet such are the +men who are responsible for the distrust which has been thrown on my work.</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_535" id="Page_535">[Pg 535]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE DUNKLE-LOOSE FORGERY</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">ITS PRO-PEARY MAKING</p></div> + +<h3>XXXV<br /> + +<br /> +<span class="smcap">The Last Perjured Defamation</span></h3> + + +<p>With the bitterness of the money-bought document +to shatter my veracity regarding the ascent of Mt. +McKinley ever before me, I canceled in November all +my lecture engagements. Mr. William M. Grey, then +managing my tour, broke contracts covering over +$140,000. But, for the time being, these could not be +filled. I was nearing a stage of mental and physical +exhaustion, and required rest. Seeking a quiet retreat, +my wife and I left the Waldorf-Astoria and secured +quarters at the Gramatan Inn, in Bronxville, N. Y. +Here was prepared my report and data to be sent to +Copenhagen.</p> + +<p>At this time, as if again destined by fate, innocently +I made my greatest error, opened myself to what became +the most serious and damaging charge against my +good faith, and the misstated account of which, published +later, was used by my enemies in their efforts +to brand me as a conscious faker and deliberate fraud.</p> + +<p>When I now think of the incidents leading up to +the acquaintance of Dunkle and Loose, it does seem +that I had lost all sense of balance, and that my brain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_536" id="Page_536">[Pg 536]</a></span> +was befogged. Shortly before I had started West, +Dunkle was brought to me by Mr. Bradley on the pretext +of wanting to talk life insurance.</p> + +<p>During my lecture tour threats from fanatics +reached me, and in my nervous condition it was not +hard for me to believe that my life was in danger. +Then, too, it seemed that all the money I had made +might be spent in efforts to defend myself. I decided +to protect my wife and children by life insurance. How +Dunkle guessed this—if he did—I do not know. But +at just the right moment he appeared, and I fell into the +insurance trap.</p> + +<p>At the time I did not know that Dunkle had been +a professional "subscription-raiser," who, while I was +in the North, had volunteered to raise money for a relief +expedition—provided he was given an exorbitant percentage.</p> + +<p>For this reason both Anthony Fiala and Dillon +Wallace had refused to introduce him to me before he +secured the introduction by Mr. Bradley. When Mrs. +Cook first saw him, with feminine intuition she said:</p> + +<p>"Don't have anything to do with that man. I +don't like his looks."</p> + +<p>I did not heed this, however. After some futile +life insurance talk, he surprised me by saying irrelevantly:</p> + +<p>"By the way, I have an expert navigator, a friend +of mine, who can prove that Peary was not at the Pole."</p> + +<p>"I have not challenged Mr. Peary's claim," I replied, +"and do not wish to. The New York <i>Herald</i>, +however, may listen to what you have to say." That +was all that was said at the time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_537" id="Page_537">[Pg 537]</a></span></p> + +<p>After my return from the western lecture tour, +Dunkle seemed to be always around, and at every opportunity +spoke to me. He gained a measure of confidence +by criticising the press campaign waged against me. I +naturally felt kindly toward anyone who was sympathetic. +At this time, when the problem of accurate +observations was worrying me, when my mind was +beginning to weigh the problem of scientific accuracy—again +just at the psychological moment—Dunkle +brought Loose out to the Gramatan Inn and introduced +him to me, saying that he was an expert +navigator.</p> + +<p>Pretending a knowledge of the situation in Europe, +Loose told me the Danes were becoming impatient. I +replied that I was busy preparing my report.</p> + +<p>"Something ought to be done in the meantime," he +said. "Now, I have connections with some of the Scandinavian +papers, and I think some friendly articles in +the meantime would allay this unrest."</p> + +<p>The idea seemed reasonable; anything that would +help me was welcome, and I told Loose, if he wanted to, +that he might go ahead. He visited me several times, +and broached the subject of the possible outcome of the +Copenhagen verdict. By this time I felt fairly friendly +with him. Finally he brought me several articles. +They seemed weak and irrelevant. Lonsdale read +them, said there was not much to them, but that they +might help. Loose mailed the articles—or said he did. +Then, to my amazement, he made the audacious suggestion +that I let him go over my material. I flatly +refused.</p> + +<p>He pointed out, what I myself had been thinking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_538" id="Page_538">[Pg 538]</a></span> +about, that all observations were subject to extreme +inaccuracy. He suggested his working mine out backward +to verify them. As I regarded him as an experienced +navigator, I thought this of interest. I was not +a navigator, and, moreover, had had no chance of checking +my figures. So, desiring an independent view, and +thinking that another man's method might satisfy any +doubts, I told him to go ahead, using the figures published +in my story in the New York <i>Herald</i>.</p> + +<p>At the time I told him to purchase for me a "Bowditch +Navigator," which I lacked, and any other almanacs +and charts he needed for himself. He came out to +the Gramatan to live. Arrangements for his stay had +been made by Dunkle—under the name of Lewis, I have +been told since—but I knew nothing of this at the time. +I gave Loose $250, which was to compensate him in full +for the articles and his running expenses. It struck me +that he took an unnecessarily long time to finish his +work of checking my calculations.</p> + +<p>Late one night, returning from the city, I went to +his room. Dunkle was there. Papers were strewn all +over the room.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Loose, "I think we have this thing all +fixed up."</p> + +<p>Dunkle, smooth-tongued and friendly as ever, said, +"Now, Doctor, I want to advise you to put your own +observations aside. <i>Send these to Copenhagen!</i>"</p> + +<p>I looked up amazed, incredulous. I felt stunned +for the moment, and said little. I then took the trouble +to look over all the papers carefully. There was a full +set of faked observations. The examination took me +an hour. During that time Dunkle and Loose were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_539" id="Page_539">[Pg 539]</a></span> +talking in a low tone. I did not hear what they said. +I saw at once the game the rascals had been playing. +The insinuation of their nefarious suggestion for the +moment cleared my mind, and a dull anger filled me.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," I said, "pack up every scrap of this +paper in that dress-suit case. Take all of your belongings +and leave this hotel at once."</p> + +<p>I stood there while they did so. Not a word was +spoken. Sheepish and silent, they shuffled from the +room, ashamed and taken aback. Sick at heart at the +thought that these men should have considered me +unscrupulous enough to buy and use their faked figures, +I went to my room. From that day—November 22—I +have not received a letter or telegram from either.</p> + +<p>Months later, in South America, I read with horrified +amazement a summary of the account of this occurrence, +sold by Dunkle and Loose to the New York +<i>Times</i>. Distorted and twisted as it was I doubt if even +the <i>Times</i> would have used it had Dunkle and Loose not +forced the lie that these faked figures were sent to +Copenhagen. They knew, as God knows, that every +scrap of paper on which they wrote was packed in a +suit-case as dirty as the intent of their sin-blotted paper.</p> + +<p>If my report to the Copenhagen University proved +anything, it was, by comparison, figure by figure, with +the affidavits published, that in this at least I was guilty +of no fraud.</p> + +<p>In a re-examination later, a handwriting expert has +come to the conclusion that the name of Loose was +forged, and Loose was later put in jail for another +offense. To the city editor of a New York evening +paper Loose offered to sell a story retracting the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_540" id="Page_540">[Pg 540]</a></span> +charges published in the <i>Times</i>. Dunkle admitted to +witnesses that he had been paid for the affidavit published +in the New York <i>Times</i>. Loose, willing to discredit +the <i>Times</i> story, said, however, he "wanted big +money" for a retraction. One question that is forced in +the interest of fair-play is, Why did the New York +<i>Times</i>, without investigation, print a news item by +which a man's honor is attacked, which is not only a +perjury but a forgery? The managing editor was +shown the evidence of this forgery, admitted its force, +but not a word was printed to counteract the harm done +by printing false news.</p> + +<p>Captain E. B. Baldwin, a year later, discovered +that this pro-Peary faked stuff was in possession of +Professor James H. Gore, one of Mr. Peary's friends in +the National Geographic Society, which prostituted its +name for Peary by passing upon valueless "proofs." +From the methods pursued by this society later, I am +inclined to the belief that the Dunkle-Loose fake was +concocted for members of this society. If not, how does +it happen that Professor Gore is in possession of this +faked, forged, and perjured stuff?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_541" id="Page_541">[Pg 541]</a></span></p> +<h2>HOW A GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY PROSTITUTED ITS NAME</h2> + +<h3>XXXVI<br /> + +<br /> + +<span class="smcap">The Washington Verdict—The Copenhagen Verdict</span></h3> + + +<p>While one group of pro-Peary men were early +engaged in various conspiracies, extending from New +York to the Pacific coast, fabricating false charges, +faking, and forging news items designed to injure me, +men higher up in Washington were planning other +deceptions behind closed doors. The Mt. McKinley +bribery and the Dunkle-Loose humbug had the desired +effect in reducing the opposition in Washington, and by +December of 1909 the controversy was settled to Mr. +Peary's satisfaction by a group of men who, by deception, +betrayed public trust.</p> + +<p>The National Geographic Society very early +assumed a meddlesome air in an effort to dictate the +distribution of Polar honors. With the excuse that +they would give a gold medal to him who could prove +priority to the claim of Polar discovery, they began a +series of movements that would put a dishonorable +political campaign to shame. In the light of later +developments, medals from this society are regarded by +true scientific workers as badges of dishonor. By way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_542" id="Page_542">[Pg 542]</a></span> +of explanation, one of the officers said that they made +it a rule to examine all original field observations before +the society honored an explorer. This was a deliberate +falsehood, for no explorer going to Washington had +previously packed his field papers and instruments for +inspection. If so, then this society again convicts itself +of a humbug, as it did later. Mr. Peary had been given +a gold medal for his claim of having reached the farthest +north in 1906. Peary admitted that his position +rested on one imperfect observation. I happened, +quite by accident, to be in a position, soon after Peary's +return, to examine the instruments with which the +farthest north observations had been made. Every +apparatus was so bent and bruised that further observations +were impossible. Of course Peary will say that +the instruments were injured en route on the return. +But this does not excuse the idle boast of the members +of the National Geographic Society, who said that they +always examined a returning explorer's field notes and +apparatus, when in this case they did not see Mr. +Peary's observations nor his instruments.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, the National Geographic, like +every other geographic society, had previously rated the +merits of an explorer's work by his published reports. +Their tactics were now changed to bring about a position +where they might focus the controversy to Mr. Peary's +and their advantage. There would have been no harm +in this effort, if it had been honest; but, as we will see +presently, falsehood and deception were evident in +every move.</p> + +<p>The position of the National Geographic Society +is very generally misunderstood because of its preten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_543" id="Page_543">[Pg 543]</a></span>tious +use of the word "National." In reality, it is +neither national nor geographic. It is a kind of self-admiration +society, which serves the mission of a +lecture bureau. It has no connection with the Government +and has no geographic authority save that which it +assumes. As a lecture bureau it had retained Mr. Peary +to fill an important position as its principal star for +many years. To keep him in the field as their head-line +attraction they had paid $1,000 to Mr. Peary for the +very venture now in question. This so-called "National" +Geographic Society was, therefore, a stock owner +in the venture upon which they passed as an unbiased +jury.</p> + +<p>Of course Mr. Peary consented to rest his case in +their hands; but, for reasons above indicated and for +others given below, I refused to have any dealings with +such an unfair combination. The Government was +appealed to, and every political and private wire was +pulled to compel me to submit my case to a packed +jury. During all the time when this was done, its +moving spirits, Gilbert Grosvenor and Admiral Chester, +were publicly and privately saying things about me and +my attainment of the Pole that no gentleman would +utter. That Mr. Peary was a member of this society; +that his friends were absolute dictators of the power of +appointment; that they were stock owners in Mr. +Peary's enterprise—all of this, and a good many other +facts, were carefully suppressed. To the public this +society declared they were "neutral, unbiased and scientific"—no +more deliberate lie than which was ever forced +upon the public.</p> + +<p>Of course I refused to place my case in dishonest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_544" id="Page_544">[Pg 544]</a></span> +pro-Peary hands. With shameless audacity this society +helped Mr. Peary carry along his press campaign by +disseminating the cowardly slurs of Grosvenor, Chester, +and others. They watched and encouraged the +McKinley bribery; they closed their eyes to the Kennan +lies. Through Chester and others, they faked pages of +sensational pseudo-scientific news, all with the one centered +aim of forcing doubt on opposing interests before +the crucial moment, when, behind closed doors, the matter +could be settled to their liking.</p> + +<p>Thus, when Peary, his club, and his affiliated +boosters at Washington were carrying their press slanders +to a focus, there came a loud cry from the National +Geographic Society for proofs.</p> + +<p>With some wrangling, and a good deal of protest +from half-hearted men, like Professor Moore, a jury +was appointed to pass upon Mr. Peary's claims and +mine. My claims were to be passed upon against my +will. Unbiased and real Arctic explorers like General +Greely and Admiral Schley were carefully excluded +from this jury. Instead, armchair geographers, who +were closely related to the Peary interests, were appointed +as a "neutral jury," as follows:</p> + +<p><i>Henry Gannett</i>, a close personal friend of Mr. +Peary.</p> + +<p><i>C. M. Chester</i>, related to Mr. Peary's fur trader, a +member of a coterie that divided the profits of fleecing +the Eskimos.</p> + +<p><i>O. H. Tittman</i>, chief of a department under which +part of Mr. Peary's work was done.</p> + +<p>With a flourish of trumpets, including pages of +self-boosting news distributed by Mr. Peary's press<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_545" id="Page_545">[Pg 545]</a></span> +agents, this commission began its important investigation. +At the time, it was said that all of Mr. Peary's +original field papers and instruments were under careful +scrutiny. Later it was shown that one of the jury saw +only COPIES. On November 4, 1909, was issued the +verdict of this jury: "That Commander Peary reached +the North Pole on April 6, 1909."</p> + +<p>This verdict, at its face value, was fair; but the +circumstances which surrounded it before and after +were such as to raise a doubt that can never be removed. +With the verdict came the insinuation that no one else +had reached the Pole before Peary; that my claim of +priority was dishonest. A nagging press campaign +continued to emanate from Washington.</p> + +<p>I have no objection to Mr. Peary's friends +endorsing him—a friend who will stretch a point is not +to be condemned. But when such friends stoop to dishonorable +methods to inflict injury upon others, then a +protest is in order. My aim here is not to deny that +Mr. Peary reached the Pole near enough for all practical +purposes, but to show how men sacrificed their +word of honor to boost Mr. Peary and to discredit me.</p> + +<p>The verdict of this jury which was to settle the +controversy for all time was sent out on wires that +encircled the globe. Soon after there was a call for the +data upon which that jury passed. The public called +for it; the Government called for it; foreign geographical +societies asked for it. No one was allowed to see +the wonderful "proofs." Why?</p> + +<p>Officially, that commission said that Mr. Peary's +contract with a magazine prevented the publication of +the "proofs." But every member of the commission<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_546" id="Page_546">[Pg 546]</a></span> +was on the Government pay-roll. Why, may we ask, +should a Government official be muzzled with a bid for +commercial gain? This contract was held by Benjamin +Hampton, of <i>Hampton's Magazine</i>. If Hampton's +contract muzzled the Government officials, Mr. Hampton +thought so little of the so-called "proofs" that he +did not print them. For, in <i>Hampton's</i> installment, +with the eye-attracting title, "Peary Proofs Positive," +the real data upon which the Peary case rests were +eliminated. Why? In Mr. Peary's own book that +material is again suppressed. Why? For the same +reason that the jury was muzzled. <i>The material would +not bear public scrutiny!</i></p> + +<p>The real difficulty is that, in the haste to floor rival +claims, Mr. Peary and all his biased helpers fixed as the +crucial test of Polar attainment an examination of field +observations. Mr. Peary had his; he had refused to let +Whitney bring part of mine from the North; and, +therefore, he and his friends supposed that I was helpless, +by assuming this false position. But when Mr. +Peary's own material was examined, it was found that +his position rested on a set of worthless observations—calculations +of altitudes of the sun so low that it is +questionable if the observation could have been made at +all. So long as three men, behind closed doors, could +be made to say "Yes, Peary reached the Pole," and so +long as this verdict came with the authority of a Geographic +Society and the seeming endorsement of +national prestige, the false position could be impressed +upon the pubic as a <i>bona-fide</i> verdict. But, with publicity, +the whole railroading game would be spoiled. +These three men could be influenced. But there are a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_547" id="Page_547">[Pg 547]</a></span> +hundred thousand other men in the world whose lives +depend upon their knowledge of just such observations +as were here involved. They knew publicity would +bring the attention of these men to the fact that Mr. +Peary's polar claim rests upon the impossible observations +of a sun at an altitude less than 7° above the +horizon. The three armchair geographers, seldom out +of reach of dusty book-shelves, passed upon these +worthless observations. Not one of one hundred +thousand honest sextant experts would credit such an +observation as that upon which Mr. Peary's case rests—not +even in home regions, where for centuries tables for +corrections have been gathered.</p> + +<p><a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a>A year later, at the Congressional investigation of +the Naval Committee in Washington, Mr. Peary and +two of his jurors admitted that in the much-heralded +Peary proofs "there was no proof." Members of the +Geographic Society acknowledged their "examination" +of Peary's instruments was made in the Pennsylvania<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_548" id="Page_548">[Pg 548]</a></span> +Station, when they opened Mr. Peary's trunk and +casually looked over its contents. Therefore, Mr. +Peary's claim for a second victory now rests upon his +book.</p> + +<p>In forcing the controversy, the press and the public +have come to the conclusion that one or the other report +must be discredited. This is an incorrect point of view. +Each case must be judged upon its own merits. To +prove my case, it is not necessary to disprove Peary's; +nor, to prove Peary's, should it have been necessary to +try to disprove mine.</p> + +<p>Much has been said about my case resting in foreign +hands. This came about in a natural way. It was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_549" id="Page_549">[Pg 549]</a></span> +not intended to convey the idea that my own countrymen +were incompetent or dishonest. In the case of the +National Geographic Society they have irretrievably +prostituted their name; but the same is not true of other +American authorities.</p> + +<p>When I came to Copenhagen, the Danish Geographic +Society gave me a first spontaneous hearing. +The Copenhagen University honored me. It was, +therefore, but proper that the Danes should be the first +to pass upon the merits of my claim. While these +arrangements were in progress, I met Professor Thorp, +the Rector of the University of Copenhagen, at the +American Legation. I did not know the purport of +that meeting, nor of his detailed, careful questions; but +on the 6th of September appeared an official statement +in the press reports. In these it was stated that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_550" id="Page_550">[Pg 550]</a></span> +meeting had been arranged to satisfy the University +authorities as to whether the Pole had been reached. +Among other things, Professor Thorp said:</p> + +<p>"As there were certain questions of a special astronomical +nature with which I myself was not sufficiently +acquainted, I called in our greatest astronomical scientist, +Professor Stromgren, who put an exhaustive series +of mathematical, technical and natural scientific questions +to Dr. Cook, based particularly on those of his +contentions on which some doubts had been cast.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Cook answered all to our full satisfaction. +He showed no nervousness or excitement at any time. +I dare say, therefore, that there is no justification for +anybody to throw the slightest doubt on his claim to +have reached the Pole and the means by which he did it. +Professor Stromgren and I are entirely satisfied with +the evidence."</p> + +<p>I have always maintained that the proof of an +explorer's doings was not to be found in a few disconnected +figures, but in the continuity of his final +book which presents his case. To this end I prepared +a report, accompanied by the important part of the +original field notes and a complete set of reduced +observations. These were submitted to the University +of Copenhagen in December of 1909. The verdict on +this was that in such material there was no absolute +proof of the attainment of the Pole.</p> + +<p>The Peary press agents were in Copenhagen, and +sent this news out so as to convey the idea that Copenhagen +had denounced me; that, in their opinion, the +Pole had not been reached as claimed, and that I had +hoaxed the world for sordid gain; all of which was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_551" id="Page_551">[Pg 551]</a></span> +untrue. But the press flaunted my name in big headlines +as a faker.</p> + +<p>"In the Cook data there is no proof," they repeated +as the verdict of Copenhagen.</p> + +<p>A year later Mr. Peary and his jurors confessed +unwillingly in Congress that in the Peary data there +was no proof.</p> + +<p>This was reported in the official Congressional +pamphlets, but, so far as I know, not a single newspaper +displayed the news. The two cases, therefore, so far as +verdicts go, are parallel.</p> + +<p>Wearied of the whole problem of undesirable publicity; +mentally and physically exhausted; disgusted +with the detestable and slanderous campaign, which, for +Mr. Peary, the press forced unremittingly, I decided to +go away for a year, to rest and recuperate. This could +not be done if I took the press into my confidence; and, +therefore, I quietly departed from New York, to be +joined by my family later. Out of the public eye, life, +for me, assumed a new interest. In the meantime, the +public agitation was stilled. Time gave a better perspective +to the case; Mr. Peary got that for which his +hand had reached. He was made a Rear-Admiral, with +a pension of $6,000 under retirement.</p> + +<p>By the time I had resolved my case, I received +through my brother, William L. Cook, of Brooklyn, +and my London solicitor, various offers from newspapers +and magazines for any statement I desired to +make. Because I had gone away quietly and remained +in seclusion, the newspapers had inflamed the public +with an abnormal curiosity in my so-called mysterious +disappearance. This fact imparted a great sensational<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_552" id="Page_552">[Pg 552]</a></span> +value to any news of my public reappearance or to any +statement which I might make. Eager to secure a +"beat," newspapers were offering my brother as high as +one thousand dollars merely for my address. The +New York newspaper which had led the attack against +me sent an offer, through my London solicitor, of any +figure which I might make for my first exclusive statement +to the public. One magazine offered me ten +thousand dollars for a series of articles.</p> + +<p>While in London I received a message from Mr. +T. Everett Harry, of <i>Hampton's Magazine</i>, concerning +the publication of a series of articles explaining my +case. Mr. Harry came to London and talked over +plans for these. The opportunity of addressing the +same public, through the same medium, as Mr. Peary +had in his serial story, strongly influenced me—in fact, +so strongly that, while I had a standing offer of ten +thousand dollars, I finally gave my articles to <i>Hampton's</i> +for little more than four thousand dollars.</p> + +<p>In order that <i>Hampton's Magazine</i> might benefit +by the publicity attaching to my first statement, and in +response to the editor's request, I came quietly to the +United States with Mr. Harry, by way of Canada, to +consult with the editor before making final arrangements. +Mr. Harry and I had agreed upon the outline +for the articles. They were to be a series of heart-to-heart +talks, embodying the psychological phases of the +Polar controversy and my own actions. In these I +determined fully to state my case, explain the ungracious +controversy, and analyze the impossibility of +mathematically ascertaining the Pole or of proving such +a claim by figures. The articles that eventually<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_553" id="Page_553">[Pg 553]</a></span> +appeared in <i>Hampton's</i>, with the exception of unauthorized +editorial changes and excisions of vitally important +matter concerning Mr. Peary, were practically the same +as planned in London.</p> + +<p>Coming down from Quebec, I stopped in Troy, +New York, to await Mr. Hampton, who was to come +from New York. While there, a sub-editor, with all +a newspaper man's sensational instincts, came to see me. +He communicated, it seems, a brilliant scheme for a +series of articles. As he outlined it, I was to go secretly +to New York, submit myself to several employed alienists +who should pronounce me insane, whereupon I was +to write several articles in which I should admit having +arrived at the conclusion that I reached the Pole while +mentally unbalanced! This admission was to be supported +by the alienists' purchased report! This plan, I +was told, would "put me right" and make a great +sensational story!</p> + +<p>When I was told of this I felt staggered. Did +people—could they—deem me such a hoax that, in +order to obtain an unwarranted sympathy, or to make +money, I should be willing to admit to such a shameful, +mad, atrocious and despicable lie? I said nothing when +the suggestion was made. At heart, I felt achingly +hurt. I felt that this newspaper man, not hesitating +at deceiving the public in order to get a sensation, +regarded me as a scoundrel. I was learning, too, as I +had throughout the heart-bitter controversy, the +duplicity of human nature.</p> + +<p>After a talk with Mr. Hampton, who finally +arrived, and who, I am glad to say, had no such suggestion +himself to offer, I got to work on my articles after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_554" id="Page_554">[Pg 554]</a></span> +the general plan spoken of in London. These +were written at the Palatine Hotel, in Newburgh. +The articles finished, I returned to London to +settle certain business matter prior to my public return +to America by Christmas.</p> + +<p>Imagine my amazed indignation when, shortly +before sailing, the cables brought the untrue news, "Dr. +Cook Confesses." Imagine my heart-aching dismay +when, on reaching the shores of my native country, I +found the magazine which was running the articles in +which I hoped to explain myself, had blazoned the +sensation-provoking lie over its cover—"Dr. Cook's +Confession."</p> + +<p>I had made no confession. I had made the admission +that I was uncertain as to having reached the exact +mathematical Pole. That same admission Mr. Peary +would have to make had he been pinned down. He did +make this admission, in fact, while his own articles, a +year before, were being prepared, in the <i>Hampton's</i> +office.</p> + +<p>In order to advertise itself, the magazine employed +the trick of construing a mere admission of uncertainty +as to the exact pin-point attainment of the Pole as a +"confession." To the public I had apparently authorized +this. The misrepresentation hurt me, and for a +time placed me in an unhappy dilemma.</p> + +<p>Before the appearance of the January <i>Hampton's</i>, +in which the first instalment of my articles appeared, +a series of press stories supposedly based upon my forthcoming +articles were prepared and sent out by the sub-editor +who had suggested the insanity plan. These were +prepared during the absence of Mr. Harry in Atlantic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_555" id="Page_555">[Pg 555]</a></span> +City. By picking garbled extracts from my articles +about the impossibility of a pin-point determination of +the Pole, and the crazy mirage-effects of the Arctic +world, these news-stories were construed to the effect +that I admitted I did not know whether I had been at +the North Pole or whether I had not been at the North +Pole, and also that I admitted to a plea of insanity. +These stories were printed on the first pages of hundreds +of newspaper all over the country, under scareheads +of "Dr. Cook Admits Fake!" and "Dr. Cook +Makes Plea of Insanity!"</p> + +<p>In these reports, written by the sub-editor, he gave +himself credit for the "discovery" of Dr. Cook and the +securing of his articles for <i>Hampton's</i>. This claim for +the magazine "beat" was as dishonest as his handling of +the press matter for <i>Hampton's</i>. My dealings with the +magazine were entirely through Mr. Harry, whose +frankness and fair-dealing early disposed me to give +my story to the publication he represented.</p> + +<p>The widespread dissemination of the untrue and +cruelly unfair "confession" and "insanity-plea" stories +dazed me. I felt impotent, crushed. In my very +effort to explain myself I was being irretrievably hurt. +I was being made a catspaw for magazine and newspaper +sensation.</p> + +<p>But misrepresentations do not make history. The +American people cannot always be hoodwinked. The +reading public soon realized that my story was no more +a confession than the "Peary Proof Positive" instalment +in Hampton's had been the embodiment of any +real Polar proofs.</p> + +<p>Finding that it was impossible, in magazines and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_556" id="Page_556">[Pg 556]</a></span> +newspapers, to tell the full truth; finding that what I +did say was garbled and distorted, I concluded to +reserve the detailed facts for this book. There were +truths about Mr. Peary which, I suppose, no paper +would have dared to print. I have told them here. +There were truths about myself which, because they +explain me, the papers, preferring to attack me, would +not have printed. I have told them here.</p> + +<p>I climbed Mt. McKinley, by my own efforts, without +assistance; I reached the Pole, save for my Eskimos, +alone. I had spent no one's money, lost no lives. I +claimed my victory honestly; and as a man believing in +himself and his personal rights, at a time when I was +nervously unstrung and viciously attacked, I went +away to rest, rather than deal in dirty defamation, +alone. At a time when the tables seemed turned, when +the wolves of the press were desirous of rending me, I +came back to my country—alone.</p> + +<p>I have now made my fight; I have been compelled +to extreme measures of truth-telling that are abhorrent +to me. I have done this because, otherwise, people +would not understand the facts of the Polar controversy +or why I, reluctant, remained silent so long. I +have done this single-handedly. I have confidence in +my people; more than that, I have implicit and +indomitable confidence in—Truth.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_557" id="Page_557">[Pg 557]</a></span></p> +<h2>RETROSPECT</h2> + + +<p>Returning from the North, in September, 1909, +while being honored in Copenhagen for my success in +reaching the North Pole, there came, by wireless from +Labrador, messages from Robert E. Peary, claiming +the attainment exclusively as his own, and declaring +that in my assertion I was, in his vernacular, offering +the world a "gold brick."</p> + +<p>On April 21, 1908, I had reached a spot which I +ascertained, with as scientific accuracy as possible, to be +the top of the axis around which the world spins—the +North Pole.</p> + +<p>On April 6, 1909, a year later, Mr. Peary claimed +to have reached the same spot.</p> + +<p>To substantiate his charge of fraud, Peary declared +that my Eskimo companions had said I had been only +two sleeps from land. Why, he further asked, had I +not taken reputable witnesses with me on such a trip?</p> + +<p>I had taken, on my final dash, two expert Eskimos. +Mr. Peary had four Eskimos and a negro body servant.</p> + +<p>Before launching further charges, Mr. Peary delayed +his ship, the <i>Roosevelt</i>, at Battle Harbor, on the +pretext of cleaning it, that he might digest my New +York <i>Herald</i> story, compare it with his own, and fabricate +his broadside of abuse. There he was in constant +communication with the New York <i>Times</i>, General +Thomas Hubbard—president of the Peary Arctic Club +and financial sponsor of the "trust"—and Herbert L. +Bridgman. The <i>Times</i>, eager to "beat" the <i>Herald</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_558" id="Page_558">[Pg 558]</a></span> +was desirous of descrediting me and launching Peary's +as the <i>bona-fide</i> North Pole discovery story. General +Hubbard, Mr. Bridgman, and the "trust" were eager +for a publicity and acclaim greater than that which +might attach to any honorable second victor. Dishonor +and perjury, to secure first honors, were not even to be +weighed in the balance.</p> + +<p>When I arrived in New York, I was confronted +by a series of technical questions, designed to baffle me. +These questions, I learned, had been sent to the <i>Times</i> +by Mr. Peary with instructions that the <i>Times</i> "get +after" me.</p> + +<p>I answered these questions. I had answered them +in Europe. Mr. Peary, when he arrived at Sydney, +and afterward, refused to answer any questions. He +continued simply to attack me, to make insinuations +aspersing my honesty, playing the secret back-hand +game of defamation conducted by his friends of his +Arctic Club.</p> + +<p>Why had I not, on my return from my Polar trip, +told anyone of the achievement, Mr. Peary asked in an +interview, aiming to show that my Polar attainment +was an afterthought.</p> + +<p>On my return to Etah I had told Harry Whitney +and Pritchard. They, in turn, told Captain Bob +Bartlett. Captain Bartlett, as well as the Eskimos, +in turn told Peary at Etah that I claimed to have +reached the Pole. At the very moment when this +charge was made, Peary had in his pocket Captain +Adams' letter which gave the same information. Why +did Mr. Peary suppress this information, convicting +himself of insinuating an untruth from three different<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_559" id="Page_559">[Pg 559]</a></span> +sources to challenge my claim. Returning from the +North with the negro, Henson, and Eskimos, Mr. +Peary himself had not told his own companions on the +<i>Roosevelt</i> of his own success. Why was this?</p> + +<p>In a portentous statement Mr. Peary and his party +declared my Eskimos said I had not been more than +two sleeps from land.</p> + +<p>I had instructed my companions not to tell Peary +of my achievement. He had stolen my supplies. I felt +him unworthy of the confidence of a brother explorer. +I had encouraged the delusion of E-tuk-i-shook and +Ah-we-lah that almost daily mirages and low-lying +clouds were signs of land, so as to prevent the native +panic and desertion on the circumpolar sea. They +had possibly told this to Peary in all honesty; but other +natives also told him that we had reached the "Big +Nail."</p> + +<p>Why was the news to Mr. Peary's liking given, +while that which he did not like was ignored?</p> + +<p>Not long ago, Matthew Henson, interviewed in the +south, was quoted as saying that Peary did not get to +the Pole. In another interview he said that Peary, +like a tenderfoot, rode in a fur-cushioned sledge +until they got to a place which was "far enough." I +still prefer to believe Peary rather than Henson. +Peary's Eskimo companions of a former trip positively +deny Peary's claimed discovery of Crocker Land. I +still prefer to believe that Crocker Land does deserve a +place on the map. Peary's last Eskimo companions +say that he did not reach the Pole. But I prefer to +credit his claim. Mr. Peary's spirit has never been that +of fairness to others when a claim impinges upon his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_560" id="Page_560">[Pg 560]</a></span> +own. He has always adopted the tactics of the claim-jumper.</p> + +<p>In a like manner, and with similar intent, Mr. +Peary had attacked many explorers before me. To +prevent his companions from profiting by their own +work, members of each expedition were forced to sign +contracts that barred press interviews, eliminated cameras, +prohibited lecturing or writing, or even trading for +trophies. To insure Mr. Peary all the honor, his men +were made slaves to his cause.</p> + +<p>In a quarrel which resulted from these impossible +conditions, Eivind Astrup was assailed. Broken-hearted, +he committed suicide. Captain Otto Sverdrup +was made to feel the sting of the same grasping spirit. +General A. W. Greely has been unjustly attacked. +All of this detestable selfishness culminated in the treatment +of Captain Bob Bartlett. When the Pole, to +Peary, seemed within reach, and the glory of victory +was within grasp, the ever-faithful Bartlett was turned +back and his place was taken by a negro, that Peary +might be, to quote his own words, "the only white man +at the Pole."</p> + +<p>When, on my return to New York, I found myself +attacked by a man of this caliber, I decided that the +public, without any counter-defamation on my part, +would read him aright and see through the unscrupulous +and dishonest campaign. So I remained silent.</p> + +<p>Coming down to Portland from Sydney, where he +had landed, Mr. Peary gave out an interview insinuating +that I had had no instruments with which to take +observations. "Would Dr. Cook," he asked, "if he had +had instruments, have left them in the hands of a stran<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_561" id="Page_561">[Pg 561]</a></span>ger +(Harry Whitney), when upon these depended his +fame or his dishonor?"</p> + +<p>On his return to this country, Mr. Whitney corroborated +my statement of leaving my instruments with +him. Mr. Peary's own captain, who had cross-questioned +my Eskimos for Mr. Peary, later stated to two +magazine editors that my companions had described to +him the instruments I had had. Is it reasonable to +suppose that Mr. Peary did not know of this? I know +that he knew. If he is an honest man, why did he stoop +to this dishonesty? Even if he believed me to be dishonest, +dishonest methods only placed him in the class +of the one he attacked as dishonest.</p> + +<p>By using the same underhand methods, as when he +got the New York <i>Times</i> to cross-question me for himself, +Peary now got his friends of the Geographic +Society, who had boosted him, to call for "proofs." +Such proofs, it appeared, should always be presented +before public honors were accepted or the returns of a +lecture tour considered. But Peary had engaged in +exploration for twenty years, and had always given +lectures at once, without ever offering proofs. I was +asked to cancel lecture engagements and furnish what +Peary knew neither he nor anybody else could furnish +offhand. For the proof of an explorer's doings is his +final book, which requires months and years to prepare.</p> + +<p>With much blaring of trumpets, the Peary +"proofs" were submitted to his friends of the National +Geographic Society. With but a casual examination +of copies of data, claimed at the time to be original field +notes, with no explanation of the wonderful instruments +upon which it had been earlier claimed Polar honors<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_562" id="Page_562">[Pg 562]</a></span> +rested, an immediate and favorable verdict was rendered.</p> + +<p>A huge picture was published, showing learned, +bewhiskered gentlemen examining the Peary "proofs," +and reaching their verdict. Mr. Peary's case for a +rediscovery of the Pole was won—for the time. The +public were deceived into believing that positive proofs +had been presented; that the society, acting as a competent +and neutral jury, was honest. Later it was shown +that its members were financially interested in Mr. +Peary's expedition, and still later it was admitted that +the Peary proofs contained no proof. All of this later +development has had no publicity.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, I was attacked for delay. My +data was finally sent to the University of Copenhagen. +A verdict of "Unproven" was rendered.</p> + +<p>Thereupon, Mr. Peary and his friends at once +shouted "Fraud!" The press parrot-like re-echoed that +shout. With this unfair insinuation there came to me +the biting sting of a burning electric shock as the wires +quivered all around the world. At the Congressional +investigation, a year later, the Peary data was shown to +be useless as proof. It was a verdict precisely like that +of Copenhagen on mine, but the press did not print it. +Did the Peary interests have any control over the +American press or its sources of news distribution?</p> + +<p>After the call for "proof" came charges, from +members of the Peary cabal, that I was unable to take +observations. Mr. Peary was so much better equipped +than I to do so! Moreover, he had had the able scientific +assistance of Bartlett and—the negro.</p> + +<p>When I was at the Pole the sun was 12° above the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_563" id="Page_563">[Pg 563]</a></span> +horizon. At the time Peary claims he was there it was +less than 7°. Difficult as it is to take observations at 12°, +because of refracted light, any accurate observation at +7° is impossible. It is indeed, questionable if an observation +could be made at all at the time when Peary +claims to have been at the Pole.</p> + +<p>Finding that, despite all charges, the public believed +in me, Mr. Peary, through his coöperators, +attempted to discredit my veracity. An affidavit, which +was bought, as I have evidence to prove, was made by +Barrill to the effect that I had not climbed Mt. +McKinley. The getting of this affidavit is placed at +the door of Mr. Peary.</p> + +<p>Do honest men, with honest intentions, buy perjured +documents?</p> + +<p>Do honest men, believing in themselves, besmirch +their own honor by deliberate lying?</p> + +<p>Dunkle and Loose came to me, offered to look over +the observations in my <i>Herald</i> story, and—suddenly—to +my amazement—offered a set of faked observations, +manufactured at the instigation of someone. I refused +the batch of faked papers, and turned the two +nefarious conspirators out of my hotel.</p> + +<p>A comparison of my Copenhagen report with the +Dunkle perjured story, later printed in the New York +<i>Times</i>, proves I used not one of their figures. +Mr. R. J. McLouglin later proved that the hand +which signed "Dunkle" also signed "Loose" to that +lying document. It is, therefore, not only a perjury, +but a forgery.</p> + +<p>Recently, Professor J. H. Gore, a member of the +National Geographic Society, and one of Peary's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_564" id="Page_564">[Pg 564]</a></span> +friends, acknowledged to Evelyn B. Baldwin that he +had in his possession the faked observations which were +made by Dunkle and Loose.</p> + +<p>How did he come by them? Why does he have +them? What were the relations between Dunkle and +Loose, Peary's friends, the New York <i>Times</i>, and the +National Geographic Society? Do honest men, with +honest intentions, conspire with men of this sort, men +who offered to sell me faked figures—most likely to +betray me had I been dishonest enough to buy them—and +who, failing, perjured themselves?</p> + +<p>Disgusted, I decided to let my enemies exhaust +their abuse. I knew it eventually would rebound. Determined +to retire to rest, to resolve my case in quietude +and secrecy, I left America. My enemies gleefully proclaimed +this an admission of imposture.</p> + +<p>Yet, after they had turned almost every newspaper +in the country against me, having rested, having +resolved my case, having secured damaging proofs of +the facts of the conspiracy against me, I returned to +America.</p> + +<p>Realizing my error in so long remaining silent; +realizing the power of a sensation-seeking press, which +has no respect for individuals or of truth, I determined, +painful as would be the task, to tell the unpleasant, +distasteful truth about the man who tried to besmirch +my name. This may seem unkind. But I was kind too +long. Truth is often unpleasant, but it is less malicious +than the sort of lies hurled at me.</p> + +<p>After I had left America, the newspapers, desirous +of sensation, had played into the hands of those +who, with seeming triumph, assailed me. But mean<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_565" id="Page_565">[Pg 565]</a></span>while, +however, I was taking advantage of the opportunity +to rest and gain an accurate perspective of the +situation. I thought out my case, considered it pro +and con, puzzled out the reasons for, and the source of, +the newspaper clamor against me. Through friends in +America who worked quietly and effectively, I secured +evidence, which is embodied in affidavits, which laid +bare the methods employed to discredit me in the Mt. +McKinley affair. I learned of the methods used, and +just what charges were made, to discredit my Polar +claim. Damaging admissions were secured concerning +Mr. Peary's fabricated attacks from the mouths of Mr. +Peary's own associates. Knowing these facts, at the +proper time, I returned to my native country to confront +my enemies. I have proceeded in detail to state +my case and reveal the hitherto unknown inside facts +of the entire Polar controversy. I have stated certain +facts before the public. Neither Mr. Peary nor his +friends have replied. One point in the Polar controversy +has never reached the public. Both Mr. Peary +and many of his friends asserted that I left the country +just in time to escape criminal prosecution. They said +the charge was to be that I had obtained money on a +false pretence by accepting fees for lecturing on my discovery. +I returned to America. I have been lecturing +for fees on my discovery since; I have not yet been +prosecuted.</p> + +<p>Were Mr. Peary not the sort of man who would +stoop to dishonor, to discredit a rival in order to gain +an unfair advantage for himself, were he not guilty +of the gross injustice I have stated, he would have had +all the opportunity in the world for effectively<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_566" id="Page_566">[Pg 566]</a></span> +coming back at me. But he has remained silent. Why?</p> + +<p>I have, as I have said, absolute confidence in the +good sense, spirit of fair-play, and ability of reasoning +judgment of my people. My case rests, not with any +body of armchair explorers or kitchen geographers, but +with Arctic travelers who can see beyond the mist of +selfish interests, and with my fellow-countrymen, who +breathe normal air and view without bias the large open +fields of honest human endeavor.</p> + +<p>In this book I have stated my case, presented my +proofs. As to the relative merits of my claim, and Mr. +Peary's, place the two records side by side. Compare +them. I shall be satisfied with your decision.</p> + +<p class="ralign"><span class="smcap">Frederick A. Cook.</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 483px;"> +<img src="images/illo_618.jpg" width="483" height="480" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_567" id="Page_567">[Pg 567]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 480px;"> +<img src="images/illo_619.jpg" width="480" height="583" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Accused of being the most colossal liar of history, I sometimes +feel that more lies have been told about me than about anyone ever +born. I have been guilty of many mistakes. Most men really true to +themselves admit that. My claim to the North Pole may always be questioned. +Yet, when I regard the lies great and small attached to me, I am +filled almost with indifference. +</p><p> +As a popular illustration of the sort of yarns that were told, let me +refer to the foolish fake of the gum drops. Someone started the story +that I expected to reach the Pole by bribing the Eskimos with gum +drops—perhaps the idea was that I was to lure them on from point to +point with regularly issued rations of these confections. +</p><p> +Wherever I went on my lecture tour after my return to the United +States, much to my irritation I saw "Cook" gum drops conspicuously +displayed in confectionery store windows. Hundreds of pounds of gum +drops were sent to my hotel with the compliments of the manufacturers. +On all sides I heard the gum-drop story, and in almost every paper read +the reiterated tale of leading the Eskimos to the Pole by dangling a gum +drop on a string before them. I never denied this, as I never denied +any of the fakes printed about me. The fact is, that I never heard +the gum-drop yarn until I came to New York. We took no gum drops +with us on our Polar trip, and, to my knowledge, no Eskimo ate a gum +drop while with me.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Among the many things which the public has been misled into +believing is that Mr. Bradley and I together connived the trip for the +purpose of essaying this quest of the Pole. The fact is, not until I +reached Annoatok, and saw that conditions were favorable for a long +sledge journey, did I finally determine to make a Poleward trip; not +until then did I tell my decision definitely to Mr. Bradley. +</p><p> +One of the big mistakes which has been pounded into the public mind +is that the proposed Polar exploit was expensively financed. It did cost +a great deal to finance the planned hunting trip. Mr. Bradley's expenses +aggregated, perhaps, $50,000, but my journey Northward, which was +but an extension of this yachting cruise, cost comparatively little.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> The killing of Astrup.—The head of Melville Bay was explored by +Eivind Astrup while a member of the Peary expedition of 1894-1895. +Astrup had been a member of the first expedition, serving without pay, +during 1891 and 1892 and proving himself a loyal supporter and helper of +Mr. Peary, when he crossed the inland ice in 1892. As a result of eating +pemmican twenty years old, in 1895, Astrup was disabled by poisoning, +due to Peary's carelessness in furnishing poisoned food. Recovering from +this illness, he selected a trustworthy Eskimo companion, went south, and +under almost inconceivable difficulties, explored and mapped the ice walls, +with their glaciers and mountains, and the off-lying islands of Melville Bay. +This proved a creditable piece of work of genuine discovery. Returning, +he prepared his data and published it, thus bringing credit and honor on +an expedition which was in other respects a failure. +</p><p> +Astrup's publication of this work aroused Peary's envy. Publicly, +Peary denounced Astrup. Astrup, being young and sensitive, brooded +over this injustice and ingratitude until he had almost lost his reason. +The abuse was of the same nature as that heaped on others, the same as +that finally hurled at me in the wireless "Gold Brick" slurs. For days and +weeks, Astrup talked of nothing but the infamy of Peary's attack on himself +and the contemptible charge of desertion which Peary made against +Astrup's companions. Then he suddenly left my home, returned to Norway, +and we next heard of his suicide. Here is one life directly chargeable to +Peary's narrow and intolerant brutality. Directly this was not murder +with a knife—but it was as heinous—for a young and noble life was +cut short by the cowardly dictates of jealous egotism.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> The Death of John M. Verhoeff.—As we passed Robertson Bay, +there came up memories of the tragedy of Verhoeff. This young +man was a member of Peary's first expedition, in 1891. He had paid $2,000 +toward the fund of the expedition. Verhoeff was young and enthusiastic. +He gave his time, his money, and he risked his life for Peary. He was +treated with about the same consideration as that accorded the Eskimo +dogs. When I last saw him in camp, he was in tears, telling of Peary's +injustice. Mrs. Peary—I advert to this with all possible reluctance—had +done much to make his life bitter, and over this he talked for days. +Finally he said: "I will never go home in the same ship with that man +and that woman." It was the last sentence he uttered in my hearing. +He did not go home in that ship. Instead, he wandered off over the +glacier, where he left his body in the blue depths of a crevasse.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Before he sailed on his last Northern expedition Mr. Peary, learning +that I had preceded him, took the initial step in his campaign to discredit +me by issuing a statement to the effect that I was bent upon the unfair +and dishonest purpose of enlisting in my aid Eskimos which he had the +exclusive right to command. Mr. Peary's attitude that the Eskimos, +because he had given them guns, powder and needles, belong to him, is as +absurd as his pretension to the sole ownership of the North Pole. Although +Mr. Peary had spent about a quarter of a century essaying the +task by means of luxurious expeditions, he had done little more than other +explorers and did not, in my opinion, either secure an option on the Pole +or upon the services of the natives. In giving guns, etc., to the natives +he also did no more than other explorers, and the Danes for many years, +have done. Nor was this with him a magnanimous matter of gracious +bounty, for, in prodigal return for all he gave them, Mr. Peary on every +expedition secured a fortune in furs and ivory. The Eskimos belong to no +one. For ages they have worked out their rigorous existence without +the aid of white men, and Mr. Peary's pretension becomes not only +absurd but grotesque when one realizes that following the arrival of ships +with white crews, the natives have fallen easy victims of loathsome +epidemics, mostly of a specific nature, for which the trivial gifts of any +explorer would ill repay them.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> One of the charges which Mr. Peary circulated before he returned +North in 1908, was, that I violated a rule of Polar ethics by not applying +for a license to seek the Pole, nor giving notice of my proposed trip. +There is no such rule in Polar ethics. The following letter, however, to his +press agent, Mr. Herbert Bridgman, dated Etah, August 26, 1907, answers +the charge: +</p><p> +"My dear Bridgman: I have hit upon a new route to the North Pole +and will stay to try it. By way of Buchanan Bay and Ellesmere Land +and northward through Nansen Strait over the Polar sea seems to me +to be a very good route. There will be game to the 82°, and here are +natives and dogs for the task. So here is for the Pole. Mr. Bradley +will tell you the rest. Kind regards to all—F. A. Cook." +</p><p> +"It will be remembered," continued Mr. Bridgman, in his press reports, +"that Dr. Cook, accompanied by John R. Bradley, Captain Moses Bartlett, +and a number of Eskimos, left North Sidney, N. S., early last July on +the American Auxiliary Schooner Yacht <i>John R. Bradley</i>, which landed +the party at Smith Sound. Mr. Bradley returned to North Sydney on the +yacht on October 1. <i>The expedition is provisioned for two years and fully +equipped with dogs and sledges for the trip. The party is wintering thirty +miles further north than Peary did two years ago.</i>" +</p><p> +And yet Bridgman, in line with the indefatigable pro-Peary +boosters, later tried to lead the public to believe that I had nothing but +gum drops with which to undertake a trip to the Pole. This same Bridgman +also printed in what Brooklyn people call the "Standard Liar" the +fake about my using, as my own, photographs said to belong to the newspaper +cub, Herbert Berri. +</p><p> +For fifteen years Bridgman used my photographs and my material for +his lectures on the Arctic and Antarctic, generally without giving credit. +Evidently, my work and my results were good enough for him to borrow +as Peary did. So long as my usefulness served the Bridgman-Peary interests, +there was no question of my credibility, but when my success interfered +with the monopoly of the fruits of Polar attainment, then I was to +be striped with dark lines of dishonor. +</p><p> +The most amusing and also the most significant incident of the Bridgman-Peary +humbug was the faked wireless message which Bridgman +printed for Peary in his paper. Peary claims he reached the Pole on April +6, 1909. In the Standard Union, Brooklyn, of April 14, 1909 (eight days +after the alleged discovery), Peary's friend H. L. Bridgman, one of the +owners, printed the following: +</p><p class="center"> +"PEARY DUE NORTH POLE TWELVE M., THURSDAY" +(APRIL 15, 1909). +</p><p> +Is Mr. Bridgman a psychic medium? How, with Peary thousands of +miles away, hundreds of miles from the most northerly wireless station, +did he sense the amazing feat? Were he and Peary in telepathic communication? +Or, rather, does this not seem to point to an agreement entered +into before the departure of Peary, about a year before the attempt was +made, to announce on a certain day the "discovery" of the Pole? +</p><p> +From other sources we learn that the timing of the arrival of the ship +at Cape Sheridan seems to have been made good, but in an apparent effort +on the part of Peary to keep faith with Bridgman on April 15, we find +him in trouble. If Peary arranged his "discovery" for this agreed date, he +would have had to take nine days for his return trip from the Pole. This +would increase his speed limit 50 per cent., and since he is regarded with +suspicion on his speed limits, to make his "Pole Discovery" story fit in +between the known time when he left Bartlett and the time when he got +back to the ship, he was compelled to break faith with Bridgman and went +back nine days on his calendar, placing the date of Pole reaching at April 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Game List.</i>—The following animals were captured from August 15, +1907, to May 15, 1909: +</p><p> +Two thousand four hundred and twenty-two birds, 311 Arctic hares, +320 blue and white foxes, 32 Greenland reindeer, 4 white reindeer, 22 polar +bears, 52 seals, 73 walrus, 21 narwhals, 3 white whales, and 206 musk oxen.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Auroras in the Arctic are best seen in more southern latitudes. The +display here described was the brightest observed on this trip. Not more +than three or four others were noted during the following year, but in +previous trips I have witnessed some very wonderful color and motion +displays. +</p><p> +The best illustrations of this remarkable color of aurora and night +come from the brush of Mr. Frank Wilbert Stokes. These were reproduced +in the <i>Century Magazine</i> of February, 1903. After their appearance, +Mr. Peary accorded to Mr. Stokes (a member of his expedition) the +same sort of treatment as he had accorded Astrup—the same as that +shown to others. In a letter to the late Richard Watson Gilder, editor of +the <i>Century</i>, he denounced and did his utmost to discredit Mr. Stokes by +insisting that no such remarkable colors are displayed by the aurora +borealis. Mr. Gilder replied, in defense of Mr. Stokes, by quoting from +Peary's own book, "Northward," Vol. II, pages 194, 195, 198 and 199, +descriptions of even more remarkable color effects.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> The so-called "Jesup" sled, which Mr. Peary used on his last Polar +trip, is a copy of the Eskimo sledge, a lumbering, unwieldy thing weighing +over one hundred pounds and which bears the same relation to a refined +bent-hickory vehicle that a lumber cart does to an express wagon. In this +"Jesup" sledge there is a dead weight of over fifty pounds of useless wood. +The needless weight thus carried can, in a better sledge, be replaced by +fifty pounds of food. This fifty pounds will feed one man over the entire +route to the Pole. Mr. Peary claims that the Pole is not reachable without +this sled, but Borup, in his book, reports that most of the sledges were +broken at the first trial. +</p><p> +Since an explorer's success is dependent upon his ability to transport +food it behooves him to eliminate useless weight. Therefore, the solid +runner sled is as much out of place as a solid wood wheel would be in an +automobile.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> A great deal of careful search and study was prosecuted about +Svartevoeg, for here Peary claims to have left a cache, the alleged placing +of which he has used as a pretext for attempting to take from the map +the name of Svartevoeg, given by Sverdrup, when he discovered it, to the +northern part of Heiberg Land. Peary, coming later, put on his map the +name Cape Thomas Hubbard, for one who had put easy money in his +hands. But no such cache was found, and I doubt very much if Peary ever +reached this point, except through a field-glass at very long range.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> On their return to Etah, and after I had left for Upernavik, my +Eskimos, questioned by Mr. Peary, who was anxious to secure anything +that might serve towards discrediting me, answered innocently that they +had been only a few sleeps from land. This unwilling and naive admission +was published in a pretentious statement, the purpose of which was to cast +doubt on my claim. Other answers of my Eskimos, to the effect that I +had instruments and had made constant observations, it is curious to note, +were suppressed by Mr. Peary and his party on their return. Every +insinuation was made to the effect that I had had no instruments, had consequently +taken no observations, and had, therefore, no means of ascertaining +the Pole even had I wished to do so.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> My enemies credit me with a journey of two thousand miles, which +is double Peary's greatest distance; but then, to deny my Polar attainment, +they keep me sitting here, on a sterile waste of ice, for three months. +Would any man sit down there and shiver in idleness, when the reachable +glory of Polar victory was on one side and the get-at-able gastronomic +joy of game land on the other? Only a crazy man would do that, and +we were too busy to lose our mental balance at that time. When leg-force +controls human destiny, and a half-filled stomach clears the brain for +action, for a long time, at least, insanity is very remote. Furthermore, +the Eskimo boys said we traveled on the ice-pack for seven moons, and +that we reached a place where the sun does not dip at night; where the +day and night shadows were of equal length. Has Mr. Peary reached that +point? If so, neither he nor his Eskimos have noted it.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> After my return to Copenhagen I was widely quoted as declaring that +I had discovered and traversed 30,000 square miles of new land. What I +did report was that in my journey I had passed through an area wherein +it was possible to declare 30,000 square miles—a terrestrial unknown of +water and ice—cleared from the blank of our charts. I have been quoted +as describing this land as "a paradise for hunters" and criticised on the +ground that animal life does not exist so far north. Whether animal life +existed there, I do not know, for the impetus of my quest left no time to +investigate. I passed the last game at Heiberg Land. +</p><p> +In my diary of the day's doings, only the results of observations were +written down. The detail calculations were made on loose sheets of paper +and in other note books—wherein was recorded all instrumental data. Later +all my observations were reduced in the form in which they were to be +finally presented. Therefore, these field papers with their miscellaneous +notes had served their purpose, as had the instruments; and for this reason +most of the material was left with Harry Whitney. A few of the important +calculations were kept more as a curiosity. These will be presented +as we go along. Those left I thought might later be useful for a +re-examination of the results; but it never occurred to me that Whitney +would be forced to bury the material, as he was by Peary. I do not regard +those buried notes as being proof or as being particularly valuable, except +as proving Peary to be one of the most ungracious and selfish characters +in history. +</p><p> +In the subsequent excitement, because Peary cried fraud on the very +papers which he had buried for me, an agitated group of American armchair +explorers came to the conclusion against the dictates of history that +the proof of the Polar quest was to be found in the re-examination of the +figures of the observations for position. +</p><p> +Part of mine were buried. Peary had his. Thus handicapped, because +blocks of my field calculations were absent, with the instruments and +chronometer corrections, I rested my case at Copenhagen on a report, the +original notes giving the brief tabulations of the day's doings, and the +complete set of reduced observations. +</p><p> +My friends have criticised me for not sending the data given below +and similar observations to Copenhagen to prove my claim, but I did not +deem it worth while to present more, taking the ground that if in this +there was not sufficient material to explain the movement step by step of +the Polar quest, then no academic examination could be of any value. This +viewpoint, as I see it at present, was a mistake. I am now presenting +every scrap of paper and every isolated fact, not as proof but as part of +the record of the expedition, with due after-thought, and the better perspective +afforded by time. Every explorer does this. Upon such a record +history has always given its verdict of the value of an explorer's work. +It will do the same in estimating the relative merits of the Polar quest. +</p><p> +<b>Observation as figured out in original field paper for March 30, 1908</b>: +Longitude 95.36. Bar. 30.10 had risen from 29.50 in 2 hours. Temp. —34°. +Wind 2. Mag. N. E. Clouds Mist W.-Water bands E. +</p> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="" width="70%"> +<tr><td align='right'>95½</td><td align='right'>Noon, <span class="overline">0 </span></td><td align='right'>18—46—10</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4 </td><td align='right'><span class="overline">0 </span></td><td align='right'>18—48—20</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>60 |<span class="overline"> 382 </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>2 |<span class="overline"> 37—34—30</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><span class="overline">6—22</span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 18—47—15</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>I. E.</td><td align='right'>+2 </td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>2 |<span class="overline"> 18—49—15</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>58 </td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 9—24—38</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6½ h.</td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>—16— 2</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 29 </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 9— 8—36</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'> 348 </td><td align='right'>R. & P.</td><td align='right'>— 9 </td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>60 |<span class="overline"> 377 </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 8—59—36</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><span class="overline">6—17 </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>90 </td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3—43—15 </td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 81—00—24</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><span class="overline">3—49—32 </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>3—49—32</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 84—49—56</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="ralign">Shadows 39 ft. (of tent pole 6 ft. above snow).<br /> +(Directions Magnetic.)</p> +<p> +Because of the impossibility of making correct allowances for refraction, +I have made a rough allowance of -9ʹ for refraction and parallax +in all my observations. +</p><p> +The tent pole was a hickory floor slat of one of the sledges. It was +6 ft. 6 ins. high, 2 ins. wide, and 1/2 in. thick. This stick was marked in +feet and inches, to be used as a measuring stick. It also served as a +paddle and steering oar for the boat. +</p><p> +By pressing this tent pole 6 ins. into the snow, it served as a 6 ft. +pole to measure the shadows. These measurements were recorded on the +observation blanks. Absolute accuracy for the measurements is not +claimed, because of the difficulty of determining the line of demarcation +in long, indistinct shadows; but future efforts will show that my shadow +measurements are an important check on all sun observations by which +latitude and longitude are determined.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Peary claims to have seen life east of this position. This is perfectly +possible, for Arctic explorers have often noted when game trails were +abundant one year, none were seen the next. In these tracks of foxes and +bears, as noted by Baldwin, are positive proofs of the position of Bradley +Land—for such animals work only from a land base.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Observation on April 8, from original field-papers. April 8, 1908, +Longitude 94°-2ʹ. Bar. 29.80, rising. Temp. —31°. Wind 2, Mag. N. E. +Clouds St. 3. +</p> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="" width="70%"> +<tr><td align='right'>94° </td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 0 </span></td><td align='right'>21°—59´—30´´</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4´ </td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 0 </span></td><td align='right'>21 —08 —20 </td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>60 |<span class="overline"> 376´ </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>2 |<span class="overline"> 43 — 7 —50 </span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 6—16</span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 21 —33 —55 </span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>56´´</td><td align='right'>I. E.</td><td align='right'>+2 </td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>× 6¼</td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>2 |<span class="overline"> 21 —35 —50 </span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 14 </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 10 —47 —55 </span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>336 </td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>—9 </td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>60 |<span class="overline"> 350 </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline"> 10 —38 —55 </span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><span class="overline">5—50 </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>90— </td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7— 9—33 </td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline">79 —21 — 5 </span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><span class="overline">7—15—23 </span></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>7 —15 —23 </td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'><span class="overline">86 —36 —28 </span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="ralign">Shadows 32 ft. (of pole 6 ft. above snow).</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> After trying to explain this impression fifteen months later to a +Swiss professor, who spoke little English, he quoted me as saying that the +sun at night about the Pole was much lower than at noon. No such +ridiculous remark was ever made. In reality the eye did not detect any +difference in the distance between the sun and the horizon through the next +twenty-four hours. There was no visible rise or set, the night dip of the +nocturnal swing of the sun was entirely eliminated. We had, however, +several ways of checking this important phenomena, which will be introduced +later.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>The Fall of Body Temperature</i>—The temperature of the body was frequently +taken. Owing to the breathing of very cold air, the thermometer placed +in the mouth gave unreliable results, but by placing the bulb in the armpits, when +in the sleeping bag, fairly accurate records were kept. These proved that extreme +cold had little influence on bodily heat; but when long-continued overwork was +combined with insufficient food, the temperature gradually came down. On +the route to the Pole the bodily temperature ranged from 97° 5ʹ to 98° 4ʹ. In +returning, the subnormal temperature fell still lower. When the worry of being +carried adrift and the danger of never being able to return became evident, then +the mental anguish, combined as it was with prolonged overwork, continued +thirst and food insufficiency, was strikingly noted by our clinical thermometer. +During the last few weeks, before reaching land at Greenland in 1909, the subnormal +temperature sank to the remarkable minimum of 96° 2ʹ F. The Eskimos +usually remained about half a degree warmer. The respiration and heart action +was at this time fast and irregular. +</p><p> +In the summer period of famine about Jones Sound the temperature was +normal. At that time we had an abundance of water and an interesting occupation +in quest of game, but we often felt the cold more severely than in the coldest +season of winter.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>The Tragedies of Cape Sabine.</i>—Cape Sabine has been the scene of +one of the saddest Arctic tragedies—the death by starvation of most of +the members of the Greely Expedition. Several modern travelers, including +Mr. Peary, have, in passing here, taken occasion to criticise adversely the +management of this expedition. In his last series of articles in <i>Hampton's +Magazine</i>, Peary has again attempted to throw discredit on General Greely. +It is easy, after a lapse of forty years, to show the mistakes of our +predecessors, and thereby attempt to belittle another's effort; but is it +right? I have been at Cape Sabine in a half-starved condition, as General +Greely was. I have watched the black seas of storm thunder the ice and +rock walls, as he did; and I have looked longingly over the impassable +stretches of death-dealing waters to a land of food and plenty, as he did. +I did it, possessing the accumulated knowledge of the thirty years which +have since passed, and I nearly succumbed in precisely the same manner +as did the unfortunate victims of that expedition. The scientific results +of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition were so carefully and so thoroughly +gathered that no expedition to the Arctic since has given value of equal +importance. Greely's published record is an absolute proof of his ability +as a leader and a vindication of the unfair insinuations of later rivals. +</p><p> +In passing along this same coast, E-tuk-i-shook called my attention to +several graves, some of which we opened. In other places we saw human +bones which had been left unburied. They were scattered, and had been +picked by the ravens, the foxes and the wolves. With a good deal of +sorrow and reserve I then learned one of the darkest imprinted pages of +Arctic history. When the steamer <i>Erie</i> returned, in 1901, a large number +of Eskimos were left with Mr. Peary near Cape Sabine. They soon after +developed a disease which Mr. Peary's ship brought to them. There +was no medicine and no doctor to save the dying victims. Dr. T. F. +Dedrick, who had served Mr. Peary faithfully, was dismissed without the +payment of his salary, because of a personal grudge, but Dedrick refused +to go home and leave the expedition without medical help. He remained +at Etah, living with the Eskimos in underground holes, as wild men do, +sacrificing comfort and home interests for no other purpose except to +maintain a clean record of helpfulness. As the winter and the night +advanced, Dr. Dedrick got news that the Eskimos were sick and +required medical assistance. He crossed the desperate reaches of Smith +Sound at night, and offered Mr. Peary medical assistance to save the +dying natives. Peary refused to allow Dedrick to attempt to cure the +afflicted, crying people. Dedrick had been without civilized food for +months, and was not well himself after the terrible journey over the +storm-swept seas of ice. Before returning, he asked for some coffee, a +little sugar and a few biscuits. These Mr. Peary refused him. Dr. Dedrick +returned. The natives, in fever and pain, died. Theirs are the bones +scattered by the wild beasts. Who is responsible for these deaths? +</p><p> +"<i>Peary-tiglipo-savigaxua</i>" (Peary has stolen the iron stone), was now +repeated with bitterness by the Eskimos. In 1897 it occurred to Mr. +Peary that the museums would be interested in the Eskimos, and also in +the so-called "Star Stone," owned by the Eskimos. It had been passed +down from generation to generation as a tribal property; from it the +natives, from the Stone Age, had chipped metal for weapons. This +"meteorite" was, without Eskimo consent, put by Mr. Peary on his ship; +without their consent, also, were put a group of men and women and +children on the ship. All were taken to New York for museum purposes. +In New York the precious meteorite was sold, but the profits were not +divided with the rightful owners. The men, women and children (merchandise +of similar value) were placed in a cellar, awaiting a marketplace. +Before the selling time arrived, all but one died of diseases directly +arising out of inhuman carelessness, due to the dictates of commercialism. +Who is responsible for the death of this group of innocent wild folk?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> These supplies had, fortunately, been left in the care of Mr. Whitney. +In the months that followed, Murphy several times threatened to take +these things, but Whitney's sense of justice was such that no further +pilfering was allowed. +</p><p> +The unbrotherly tactics which Mr. Peary had shown to Sverdrup and +other explorers were here copied by his representative. Captain Bernier +was bound for the American coast, to explore and claim for Canada the +land to the west. He desired a few native helpers. There were at Etah +descendants of Eskimo emigrants from the very land which Bernier +aimed to explore. These men were anxious to return to their fathers' +land, and would have made splendid guides for Bernier. Murphy volunteered +to ask the Eskimos if they would go. He went ashore, pretending +that he would try to secure guides, but, in reality, he never asked a single +Eskimo to join Bernier. Returning, he said that no one would go. Later +he boasted to Whitney and Prichard of the intelligent way in which he +had deceived Captain Bernier. Was this under Mr. Peary's instructions?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> I now learned, also, that the Eskimos had told their tribesmen of +their arrival at the mysterious "Big Nail," which, of course, meant less +to them than the hardship and unique methods of hunting. +</p><p> +Among themselves the Eskimos have an intimate way of conveying +things, a method of expression and meaning which an outsider never grasps. +At most, white men can understand only a selected and more simple language +with which the Eskimos convey their thoughts. This partly accounts +for the unreliability of any testimony which a white man extracts from them. +There is also to be considered an innate desire on the part of these simple +people to answer any question in a manner which they think will please. +In all Indian races this desire to please is notoriously stronger than a +sense of truth. The fact that my Eskimos, when later questioned as to +my whereabouts, are reported to have answered that I had not gone far +out of sight of land, was due partly to my instructions and partly to this +inevitable wish to answer in a pleasing way. +</p><p> +While they spoke among themselves of having reached the "Big Nail," +they also said—what they later repeated to Mr. Peary—that they had +passed few days beyond the sight of land, a delusion caused by mirages, +in which, to prevent any panic, I had with good intentions encouraged +an artificial belief in a nearness to land. +</p><p> +But we were for weeks enshrouded in dense fogs, where nothing could +be seen. The natives everywhere had heard of this, and inquired about it. +Why has Mr. Peary suppressed this important information? We traveled +and camped on the pack for "seven moons." Why was this omitted? We +reached a place where the sun did not dip at night; where there was not +enough difference in the height of the day and night sun to give the +Eskimo his usual sense of direction. Why was this fact ignored?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> In appreciation of this kind helpfulness, the Danes later sent a +special ship loaded with presents, which were left for distribution among +the good-natured Eskimos who had helped Ericksen. Mr. Peary came along +after the Danes had turned their backs, and picked from the Danish presents +such things as appealed to his fancy, thus depriving the Eskimos of +the merited return for their kindness. What right had Mr. Peary to +take these things? The Danes, who have since placed a mission station +here, in continuation of their policy to guard and protect the Eskimos, are +awaiting an answer to this question to-day.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> When Captain Adams arrived off the haunts of the northernmost +Eskimos, he sent ashore a letter to be passed along to Mr. Peary, as he +was expected to return south during that summer. In his letter Captain +Adams told of my attainment of the Pole. The letter got into Mr. +Peary's hands before he returned to Labrador. With this letter in his +pocket, Mr. Peary gave as his principal reason for doubting my success +that nobody else had been told that I had reached the Pole. I told Whitney, +I had told Pritchard—thus Peary's charge was proven false later. But +why did he suppress the information which Captain Adams' letter contained? +With this letter in his pocket, why did Mr. Peary say that no +one had been told?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Captain Robert A. Bartlett, of the Peary ship <i>Roosevelt</i>, has figured +much in this controversy. Most of his reported statements, I am +inclined to believe, are distorted. But he has allowed the words attributed +to him to stand; therefore, the harm done is just as great as if the +charges were true. He allowed Henry Rood, in <i>The Saturday Evening +Post</i>, to say that my expedition was possible only through the advice of +Bartlett. Every statement which Rood made, as Bartlett knows, is a lie. +He has allowed this to stand, and he thereby stands convicted as party to +a faked article written with the express purpose of inflicting an injury. +</p><p> +Bartlett cross-questioned my Eskimos about instruments. By showing +them a sextant and other apparatus he learned that I not only had a full +set, but he also learned how I used them. Peary, although having Bartlett's +report on this, insinuated that I had no instruments, and that I +made no observations. Bartlett knew this to be a lie, but he remained +silent. He is therefore a party to a Peary lie. +</p><p> +In the early press reports Bartlett is credited with saying that "Cook +had no instruments." A year later, after Bartlett returned from another +trip north, faked pictures and faked news items were printed with the +Bartlett interviews and reports. There was no protest, and at the same +time Bartlett said that books, instruments, and things belonging to me +had been destroyed. In the following year Bartlett announced that he was +"going after Cook's instruments." Has the press lied, or has Bartlett +lied? Next to Henson, Mr. Peary's colored servant, Captain Bartlett is +Peary's star witness. +</p><p> +George Borup, in "A Tenderfoot With Peary," after repeating in his +book many pro-Peary lies, tried to prove his assertion by an alleged study +of my sledge (P. 300): "Except for its being shortened, the sledge was +the same as when it had left Annoatok. It weighed perhaps thirty pounds, +and was very flimsy." +</p><p> +This is a deliberate lie, for it was only a half-sled, reassembled and +repaired by old bits of driftwood. After this first lie he says, in the +same paragraph: "Yet it had only two cracks in it." The upstanders had +been cracked in a dozen places, the runners were broken, and every part +was cracked. +</p><p> +Borup shows by his orthography of Eskimo words that he knows almost +nothing of the Eskimo language. Therefore he may be dismissed as incompetent +where Eskimo reports are to be interpreted. He is committed to +the Peary interests, which also eliminates him from the jury. But in his +report of my sled he has stooped to lies which forever deprive him of +being credited with any honest opinion on the Polar controversy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Professor Armbruster and Dr. Schwartz, of St. Louis, at a time +when few papers had the courage to print articles in my defence, appealed +to W. R. Reedy, of the <i>Mirror</i>, for space to uncover the unfair methods of +the Pro-Peary conspiracy. This space was liberally granted, and the +whole controversy was scientifically analyzed by the <i>Mirror</i> in an unbiased +manner. Here is shown an important phase of the Peary charges, +from the <i>Mirror</i>, April 21, 1910. As it clearly reveals the facts, I present +part of it as follows: +</p><p> +The point made by Dr. Schwartz, that there is a contradiction between +Peary's statements of September 28 and October 13, is well taken. The +statement of October 13 is a point-blank contradiction of the previous one. +Dr. Schwartz notes that when Peary made, on September 28, what Peary +called his strongest indictment of Dr. Cook, Peary must have had with +him at Bar Harbor the chart with the trail of Cook's route, and infers +that, as the later charge was by far the stronger indictment of the two, +there must be some other explanation of the contradiction. +</p><p> +Analysis of this contradiction develops one of the most serious propositions +of the whole Polar controversy. Mr. Peary might now say that he +was holding his strongest point in reserve, but such explanation would +not be sufficient, for he stated that the indictment of September 28 is "the +strongest that has been advanced in Arctic exploration ever since the +great expedition was sent there," and no child is so simple as to believe that +the indictment of September 28 is at all comparable in magnitude to the +one of October 13. Upon analysis, we find that there is indeed another +explanation, and only one, and that is, that <i>when the indictment of September +28 was made, the one of October 13 had not been conceived or concocted</i>, +and it will show that Peary, Bartlett, McMillan, Borup and Henson, +<i>all</i> who signed the statement of October 13, perpetrated a gross falsehood +and imposition upon the public. All are caught in the one net. +</p><p> +If this coterie had received from the Eskimos such information as is +claimed by them in their statement of October 13, then they must have +received it from the Eskimos <i>before Peary and his party left Etah on their +return to America</i>. If they had the information when they left the +Eskimos at Etah, on their return to America, then they had it when +they arrived at Indian Harbor, and before their statement of September +28 was made. +</p><p> +In their statement of October 13, 1909, Peary, Bartlett, McMillan, +Borup and Henson state, and sign their names to the statement made to +the world and copyrighted, that they had a map on which E-tuk-i-shook +and Ah-we-lah, Dr. Cook's two Eskimos, had traced for them the route +taken by Dr. Cook, and that this was also supported by the verbal statements +of the two Eskimos, <i>that Dr. Cook had reached the northern point +of Heiberg Land, or Cape Thomas Hubbard; that he had gone two sleeps +north of it, had then turned to the west or southwest, and returned to the +northern headland of Heiberg Land, but on the west or northwest side, +and had sent back one of the Eskimos to the cache left on the headland, +but on the east side of the point, and remained at this new place on the +west side of the point for four or five sleeps</i>. Then, all the time that +Peary was challenging and impugning that Dr. Cook had reached even the +northern point of Heiberg Land, according to their own statement of +October 13, <i>they had in their pockets the map and information from the +Eskimos that Dr. Cook had not only reached the northern point of Heiberg +Land, but traveled above it and turned around the point</i>. In so challenging +that Dr. Cook had reached even the northern point of said land, and +thereby discrediting Dr. Cook with all the force and influence at their +command, when, according to their own later statement, they had then and +at that time, and before such time (since they left Etah on their return +to America), the statements, trail of route and testimony of the Eskimos +entirely to the contrary, <i>Peary and his coterie deliberately and knowingly +perpetrated on the public the grossest of falsehoods and impositions</i>. +</p><p> +There are several other contradictions in the statement of October 13. +One is the statement that Pan-ic-pa (the father of E-tuk-i-shook), was +familiar with the first third and last third of the journey of Dr. Cook +and his two Eskimos. Pan-ic-pa may be familiar with the territory of the +last third of the route, but not with the journey made by Dr. Cook and +E-tuk-i-shook and Ah-we-lah over this part of the route, for these three +alone made the journey from Cape Sparbo to Annoatok. Pan-ic-pa went +only as far as the northern point of Heiberg Land, and returned from there +nearly a year before Dr. Cook and his two Eskimos arrived from Cape +Sparbo. This is shown by Peary and his party themselves in their statement +that Pan-ic-pa, the father of E-tuk-i-shook, a very intelligent man, +<i>who was in the party of Eskimos that came back from Dr. Cook from +the northern end of Nansen's Strait</i> (Sound), came in and indicated the +same localities and details as the two boys. Of course Pan-ic-pa could +only indicate the localities that he had himself journeyed to with Dr. Cook, +and not any after he had left Dr. Cook and the two Eskimos at the +northern point of Heiberg Land, or the northern end of Nansen's Sound, +which is the same thing. +</p><p> +Another contradiction, a very serious one indeed, as important as the +first of the foregoing contradictions is, that if Peary and his party had +such information from the Eskimos as they claimed in their statement of +October 13, then they knew that the little sledge of Dr. Cook which +they saw at Etah was not the sledge that made the trip to the Pole. +The printed reports show that long before October 13 Peary and all his +henchmen were challenging and charging to the public that the little sled +in question left with Whitney, could not possibly have made the trip to the +Pole. In the statement of October 13, Peary and his party state that, +according to the Eskimos, Dr. Cook and his two Eskimos started from the +northern point of Heiberg Land with only two sledges. Further on in the +statement, that the dogs and one sledge were abandoned in Jones Sound, +and that at Cape Vera—western end of Jones Sound—Peary and his party +say that E-tuk-i-shook and Ah-we-lah, Dr. Cook's two Eskimos, informed +them that (quoting Peary and his party's statement verbatim), "here they +cut the remaining sledge off—that is, shortened it, as it was awkward to +transport with the boat, and near here they killed a walrus." +</p><p> +<i>During all the time then, before October 13, that Peary and his party +were belittling this sled, and referring to its character as a positive proof +that Dr. Cook could not have reached the Pole, and stating that it would +have been knocked to pieces in a few days, they, according to their own +statement of October 13, knew, even while using such argument against +Dr. Cook, that the little sled was not the original sled, but only a part +of one which the desperate and fearfully hard-pressed wanderers had themselves—having +no dogs—dragged their food for three hundred miles over +one of the roughest and most terrible stretches of the frozen zone, never +before traveled by man.</i> According to their own statement of October 13, +Peary and his clique convict themselves of boldly and deliberately perpetrating +gross falsehoods against Dr. Cook and upon the people. Then shall +we believe anything further from them? +</p><p> +There is only one rational view to take of their statement of October +13. That, knowing their first charges were certain to fail, the statement +of October 13 was concocted for their own base purposes. <i>No sane person +can believe that if they had had such exceedingly damaging information as +is claimed by them in their statement of October 13, they could have instead +made use of charges far less damaging and known to them to be false.</i> +</p> +<p class="ralign"><span class="smcap">W. J. Armbruster.</span></p> +<p><span class="smcap">St. Louis, Mo.</span>, April 13, 1910.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> One of the meanest and pettiest charges concocted for Mr. Peary at a +time when personal veracity was regarded as the test of rival claims was +that I had attempted to steal the scientific work of a missionary while I +was on the Belgica Antarctic Expedition. Director Townsend, of the +New York Aquarium, who, like Mr. Peary, was drawing a salary from +the taxpayers while his energies were spent in another mission, declared +I had taken a dictionary, compiled by Thos. Bridges, of Indian words, +and had put it forth as my own work. Dalenbagh, of the American +Geographical Society, and of the "Worm Diggers' Union," polly-like, also +repeated this charge. "Of the other charges against Dr. Cook we are at +sea," he said, "but here is something that we know about." By expending +five cents in stamps, five minutes with the pen, both Townsend and +Dalenbaugh might have learned that the dishonor which they were trying to +attach to some one else was on themselves. +</p><p> +Under big headlines, "Dr. Cook Steals a Missionary's Work," the +New York <i>Times</i> and other pro-Peary papers printed columns of absolute +lies in what purported to be interviews with Townsend. Dalenbaugh, pointing +to this gleefully, said "Dr. Cook has been guilty of wrong-doing for +many years." +</p><p> +Now what were the facts? Among the scientific collections of the +Belgian Expedition, was a series of notes, embodying a Yahagan Indian +Dictionary, made by the missionary, Thomas Bridges. Although this was +of little use to anybody, it was a scientific record worthy of preservation. +In a friendly spirit toward the late Mr. Bridges and his Indians, I persuaded +the Belgians at great expense to publish the work. It was written +in the old Ellis system of orthography, which is not generally understood. +Working on this material for one year without pay, I changed it to +ordinary English orthography, but made few other alterations. The book +is not yet printed, but part of it is in press. The introduction was printed +five years ago, and among the first paragraphs appear these words: +</p><p> +"My visit among the tribe of Fuegians was not of sufficient length to +make a thorough study, nor had I the opportunity to collect much data +from Indians, but I was singularly fortunate in being in the company of +Mr. Thomas Bridges and Mr. John Lawrence, men who have made these +people their life study. The credit of collecting and making this Yahagan +Grammar and Vocabulary belongs solely to Mr. Bridges, who devoted most +of his time during thirty-seven years to recording this material. My work +is limited to a slight re-arrangement of the words, a few additions of notes +and words, and a conversion of the Ellis phonetic characters in which the +native words were written into ordinary English orthography. It is hoped +that this study of Yahagan language, with a few of their tales and traditions, +will, with a report of the French Expedition, make a fitting end to +an important record of a vanishing people." +</p><p> +Then follows a short favorable biography of the man whose work I +was accused of stealing.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Letter from Barrill's associate: +</p><p class="ralign"><span class="smcap">Missoula, Mont.</span>, Oct. 12, 1909.</p> +<p> +Friend Cook—I am sorry that I can't come at present. But will come +and see you in about fifteen days if you will send me Three Hundred and +Fifty ($350.00), and I will say that the report in the papers (that Dr. +Cook did not ascend Mt. McKinley), from what I have, is not true. +</p><p> +Hoping to see you soon. +</p> +<p class="ralign"> +<span style="margin-right: 6em;">Your friend,</span><br /> +(Signed) <span class="smcap">Fred Printz</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> While this book was going through the press, several chapters of the +proof-sheets, stolen from the printers, Messrs. Lent & Graff, were found +on the table of the Explorers' Club on June 27, 1911. It is important to +note that this pro-Peary repository of bribed, faked and forged writings, +which were issued to defame me, is also the den for stolen goods. Who are +the thieves who congregate there to deposit their booty? Why the theft +of a part of my book? What humbug has this club and its shameless +president next to offer?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Letter from an onlooker when Mt. McKinley was climbed: +</p><p class="noin"> +To Dr. Cook's Friends: +</p><p> +Professor Parker says "regretfully" that Dr. Cook's evidence as to the +ascent of Mt. McKinley was unconvincing. +</p><p> +I was located in the foothills of Mt. McKinley, and had been for +about a year, when Dr. Cook, Professor H. C. Parker, Mr. Porter, the +topographer of the party, and Mr. Miller, Fred Printz and the rest of the +party, landed at the head-waters of the Yentna River, in the foothills of +Mt. McKinley. +</p><p> +I met Professor Parker and the rest of the party, and saw a great +deal of them while they were up there, as I had three mining camps in +the foothills from which they made their try for the top of the mountain. +I let Dr. Cook have one of my Indian hunters, who knew every foot of +the country around there, for a guide. Dr. Cook also had some of his +caches in my camps, leaving supplies which he did not take along with +his pack-trains. Some of Dr. Cook's party were in our camps nearly every +day or so, and consequently I became very well posted in regard to Dr. +Cook's affairs, and very well acquainted with him. Dr. Parker should be +the last one to say anything about mountain-climbing or anything else +connected with the expedition, or anything where it takes a man and pluck +to accomplish results—good results; as he showed himself to be the rankest +kind of a tenderfoot while in the foothills of Mt. McKinley, and was the +laughing stock of the country. Mt. McKinley and the country around +there was too rough for him. He got "cold feet," and started back for +the States, before he had even seen much of the country around there. +</p><p> +Looking over my memoranda, I find that Dr. Cook had given up his +attempt to climb Mt. McKinley for the time being, and had sent Printz +and Miller on a hunting expedition, and the rest of the party was scattered +out to hunt up something new. +</p><p> +At that time I came into Youngstown, and the boys were getting ready +to strike out on their different routes, and Dr. Cook was going down to +Tyonic, in Cook's Inlet, with his launch, to meet a friend, Mr. Disston, +who expected to go on a hunting trip with him. The friend did not +arrive, so Dr. Cook returned to the head-waters of the Yentna River, to +Youngstown, arriving there on Monday, August 27. On Sunday, August +28, he started down to the Sushitna River. I went down with him as far +as the Sushitna Station, and he told me he was going to run up the river +and strike Fish Creek, which ran up on another side of Mt. McKinley, and +see what the chances were to make the top of the continent from that side. +He made it. I was one of the last to see him start on the ascent, and one +of the first to see him when he returned after he had made the ascent. +</p><p> +Dr. Cook proved to be a man in every respect, as unselfish as he was +courageous, always giving the other fellow a thought before thinking of +himself. +</p><p> +Upon his arrival from the ascent of the mountain, although tired and +worn and in a bad physical condition himself, he gave his unlimited attention +to a party of prospectors who had been picked up from a wreck in +the river, and brought into camp in an almost dying condition just before +his arrival. He spent hours working over these men, and did not give +himself a thought until they were properly cared for. +</p><p> +<i>Evidence?</i> No man who has known Dr. Cook, been with him, worked +with him, and learned by personal experience of his courage, energy and +perseverance, would ask for evidence beyond his word. +</p><p> +Dr. Cook is one of the most daring men, and can stand more hardships +than any man I have ever met, and I believe I have met some of the most +able men of the world when it comes to roughing it over the trails in +Alaska and the North. +</p><p> +Dr. Cook climbed Mt. McKinley. Of course there are always skeptics—men +who have a wishbone instead of a backbone, and who, when +wishing has brought to them no good results, their last effort is pushed +forth in criticism of the things which have been constructed or accomplished +by men, their superiors. +</p><p> +If Professor Parker wants evidence to convince him, I think he can +find it, provided he will put himself to as much trouble in looking for +evidence as he has in criticising such evidence as he has obtained. +</p> +<p class="center"><span style="margin-right: 12em;">Respectfully yours,</span></p> +<p class="ralign"><span class="smcap">J. A. MacDonald</span>.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Vontrigger, California.</span></p> + +<p><i>Author's Note.</i>—It is a curious fact that most men who have assailed +me are themselves sailing under false colors. Herschell Parker was an +assistant professor and instructor in the Department of Physics in Columbia +University. This gave him the advantage of using the title, "Professor," +but, like many others, his university association was mostly for the prestige +it gave him. His professorship assumption was, therefore, a deception. +Instead of devoting himself conscientiously to university interests, he was, +like Peary, engaged in private enterprises—such as the Parker-Clark light, +and other ventures—and employed substitute instructors to do the work +for which he drew a salary, and for which he claimed the honor and the +prestige. A man who thus sails falsely under the banner of a professorship +is just the man to try to steal the honor of other men. Here is a +make-believe professor who is not a professor; whose dwarfed conscience is +eased by drippings from the Arctic Trust; who has stooped to a photographic +humbug. He is a fitting exponent of the bribing pro-Peary +propaganda.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> When Mr. Peary first returned from the North, and began his +attacks upon me, he caused a demand for "proofs" through the New York +<i>Times</i> and its affiliated papers; he had them call for my instruments; he +insinuated that I had had no instruments with me in the North (despite +the fact that Captain Bartlett had informed him that my own Eskimos +had testified that I had); he declared that any Polar claim must be established +by an examination of observations and an examination of the +explorer's instruments. +</p><p> +In view of the unwarranted newspaper call for "proofs," I was embarrassed +by having left my instruments with Whitney. Mr. Peary had +his, however. But were they carefully examined by the august body who +so eagerly decided he reached the Pole? Was the verdict of the self-appointed +arbiters of the so-called National Geographic Society based +upon such examination as Mr. Peary—concerning my case—had declared +necessary? +</p><p> +Testifying before the subcommittee of the Committee on Naval Affairs, +when the move was on to have Peary made a Rear-Admiral, Henry Gannett, +one of the three members of the National Geographic Society, who +had passed on Peary's claim, admitted that their examination of Mr. Peary's +instruments was casually and hastily made in the Pennsylvania Station at +Washington. When Peary later appeared in person before the committee, +he admitted having come to Washington from Portland, Maine, to consult +with the members of the National Geographic Society who were to examine +his proofs, and that he had brought his instruments with him in a trunk, +which was left at the station. The following took place (See official Congressional +Report, Private Calendar No. 733, Sixty-first Congress, Third +Session, House of Representatives, Report No. 1961, pages 21 and 22): +</p><p> +"Mr. Roberts—How did the instruments come down? +</p><p> +"Captain Peary—They came in a trunk. +</p><p> +"Mr. Roberts—Your trunk? +</p><p> +"Captain Peary—Yes. +</p><p> +"Mr. Roberts—After you reached the station and found the trunk, +what did you and the committee do regarding the instruments? +</p><p> +"Captain Peary—I should say that we opened the trunk there in the +station. +</p><p> +"Mr. Roberts—That is, in the baggage-room of the station? +</p><p> +"Captain Peary—Yes. +</p><p> +"Mr. Roberts—Were the instruments all taken out? +</p><p> +"Captain Peary—<i>That I could not say. Members of the committee +will probably remember better than I.</i> +</p><p> +"Mr. Roberts—Well, do you not have any recollection of whether +they took them out and examined them? +</p><p> +"Captain Peary—Some were taken out, I should say; whether all were +taken out I could not say. +</p><p> +"Mr. Roberts—Was any test of those instruments made by any member +of the committee to ascertain whether or not the instruments were +inaccurate? +</p><p> +"Captain Peary—<i>That I could not say. I should imagine that it would +not be possible to make tests there.</i> +</p><p> +"Mr. Roberts—Were those instruments ever in the possession of the +committee other than the inspection at the station? +</p><p> +"Captain Peary—NOT TO MY KNOWLEDGE." +</p><p> +<span class="smcap">Note.</span>—This, then, was the basis of the glorious verdict of the packed +jury which assailed me; which demanded as necessary instruments of me +which had been left in the North, and which posed as a fair body of +experts! +</p><p> +All important questions asked of Peary, Tittman and Gannett were +hedged, their aim being to avoid publicity. In substance, they admitted +that in the "Peary Proofs," passed upon a year before, there was no +proof. They admitted that their favorable verdict was reached upon an +examination of COPIES of Mr. Peary's observations, and that the examination +and decision occurred at a sort of social gathering in the house of +Admiral Chester, who had attacked me. Chairman Roberts, commenting +on the testimony, wrote (see page 15): +</p><p> +"From these extracts from the testimony it will be seen that Mr. +Gannett, after his careful examination of Captain Peary's proofs and +records, did not know how many days it took Captain Peary from the +time he left Bartlett to reach the Pole and return to the <i>Roosevelt</i>, that +information being supplied by a Mr. Grosvenor. It will be also observed +that Mr. Gannett, as a result of his careful examination of Captain +Peary's proofs and records, gives Captain Peary, in his final dash to the +Pole, the following equipment: Two sledges, 36 or 32 dogs, 2 Eskimos, +and Henson. It will be seen later from Captain Peary's testimony, that +he had on that final dash 40 dogs, 5 sledges, and a total of six men in +his party. This discrepancy on so vital a point must seem quite conclusive +that the examination of the Geographic Society's committee was +anything but careful."</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_568" id="Page_568">[Pg 568]</a></span></p> +<h1>APPENDIX</h1> +<p> </p> +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_569" id="Page_569">[Pg 569]</a></span></p> + +<h2>COPY OF THE FIELD NOTES</h2> + +<p>The following copy of the daily entries in one of my +original note-books takes the expedition step by step from +Svartevoeg to the Pole and back to land.</p> + +<p>As will be seen by those here reproduced, the original +notes are mostly abbreviations and suggestions, hasty tabulations +and reminders, memoranda to be later elaborated. The +hard environment, the scarcity of materials, and cold fingers +did not encourage extensive field notes. Most of these field +notes were rewritten while in Jones Sound, and some were also +copied and elaborated in Greenland.</p> + +<p>In planning this expedition, every article of equipment +and every phase of effort was made subordinate to the one +great need of covering long distances. We deliberately set +out for the Pole, with a desperate resolution to succeed, and +although appreciating the value of detail scientific work, I +realized that such work could not be undertaken in a pioneer +project like ours. We therefore did not burden ourselves +with cumbersome instruments, nor did we allow ourselves to be +side-tracked in attractive scientific pursuits. Elaborate +results are not claimed, but the usual data of Arctic expeditions +were gathered with fair success.</p> + +<h4>(Notes usually written at end of day's march.)</h4> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="1" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="2" summary="" rules="cols"> + +<tr><th class="tentry"> </th><th class="tentry">Date.</th><th class="tentry">Miles Covered.</th><th class="tentry">OBSERVATIONS, ETC.<br /> +(Exact copy from original Field Papers)</th></tr> + +<tr><td valign="top">March 1908.</td><td valign="top">18</td><td valign="top">26</td><td align="justify">Svartevoeg. Made cache here for return. Supporting +party goes back. Noon start; 4 men, 46 dogs, 4 sleds; 26 miles. Ice heavy, wavy; little snow; crystals hard; +land screened by drift. Camp on old field. Night uncomfortable; +air humid, penetrating. Snowhouse of hard snow imperfectly made. (Other notes of this +date so dim that they cannot be read. <i>Compass directions, +unless otherwise noted, are true.</i>)</td></tr> + +<tr><td valign="top"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_570" id="Page_570">[Pg 570]</a></span></td><td valign="top">19</td><td valign="top">21</td> +<td align="justify">Clearer, overland thick; -56° F.; Wind 2 W.; sun +feeble; blue haze. On march, ice smaller; use of axe; +crossings troublesome. Camp lee of big hummock. +Cannot send supply back; must follow for another day.</td></tr> + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">20</td><td valign="top">16</td> +<td align="justify">Land more clearly visible; sky overcast; wind W. S. W. +1; ice worse. Small igloo. The last feed men return.</td></tr> + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">21</td><td valign="top">29</td> +<td align="justify">Awoke, sun N. E.; orange glow; -63° F.; bar. 30.10, +steady; no clouds; sky pale purple. More snow (on +ice); groaning sledges; mirages, lands, mountains, +volcanoes. Air light; wind sky N.; Grant Land a mere +line; -46°. Torture of light snow; march 14 hours.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">22</td><td valign="top">22</td> +<td align="justify">A. M.; wind E. 3; -59°. Start 12 (noon); sky clearer; +wind 2; water sky N. Grant Land visible P. M. +(Later) Temp. rose to -46°. Wind tolerably high; +pressure lines; the big lead. Camp on old field on +bank; ice noises; search for the crossing. Young, +elastic ice.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">23</td><td valign="top">17</td> +<td align="justify">Cross the big lead. Young ice elastic and dangerous; +western sky again threatening; ice movement east; +fields small; narrow open lanes. Course for 85th on +97th; -40°; march 11 hours; 23 miles, credit 17 miles. +Ice noises; night beautiful; sun sank into pearly haze. +(Later) Orange glow; pack violet and pale purple +blue; sky late—partly cl. appearance of land W.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">24</td><td valign="top">18</td> +<td align="justify">Observations 83.31—96.27; -41°; bar. 29.70. +West bank of fog and haze. Start afternoon; no life; old +seal hole and bear tracks; long march; ice improving. +10 h.; pedometer 21 m.; camp in coming storm; rushing +clouds; signs of land W. 18 m. (credited on +course).</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">25</td><td valign="top">18</td> +<td align="justify">Early awakened by dogs. Storm spent soon; sunrise +temp. -26°, later -41°; west again smoky. Back to +the bags; cracking ice; the breaking and separating +ice and the crevasse episode; in a bag and in water; +ice-water and pemmican; masks of ice. Good march +over newly-fractured ice; ice in motion.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">26</td><td valign="top">17</td> +<td align="justify">Still windy; some drift snow; another storm threatening. +How we need rest! Strong wind during the +night. Position D. R. 84.24—96.53.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_571" id="Page_571">[Pg 571]</a></span></td><td valign="top">27</td><td valign="top">16</td> +<td align="justify">In camp until noon. Strong winds all night; eased at +noon; clearing some; sun; weather unsettled. Short +run; squally en route; made early camp. Bar. 29.05.</td></tr> + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">28</td><td valign="top">0</td> +<td align="justify">Weather still unsettled. Temp. -41°; Bar. 29.15; west +ugly. No progress. The drift. In camp. Anxious +about stability of igloo. The collapsed camp. Midnight; +north cloudy, but ice bright; many hummocks.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">29</td><td valign="top">9</td> +<td align="justify">Start early P. M. A little blue in the west; sun bursts; +pack disturbed; hard traveling, due to fresh crevasses. +Camp midnight; only 9 miles.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">30</td><td valign="top">10</td> +<td align="justify">Land, 9 A. M., cleared; land was seen; westerly clouds +settled over it. Observations 84.50, 95.36; bearing of +land, southern group, West by South to West by North true. Other bearings taken later place a coast line +along the 102 meridian from lat. 84° 20´ to 85° 10´. There +must be much open water about the land, for banks of vapor persistently hide part. A low fog persistent; +cannot see shore; for days we have expected to see something W., but never a clear horizon. Probably two +island S. like Heiberg, 1,800 ft. high, valleys, mountains, +snow N., table 1,000, thin ice sheet, bright nights. +From observation paper: Bar. 30.10, had risen from +29.50 in 2 hours; wind 2-3 mag. S.; clouds mist, East, +water-bands W.; shadow (of 6 ft. pole) 39 ft.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">31</td><td valign="top">10</td> +<td align="justify">Land screened by mist; wind W. 2-0. Ice fracture; no +sign of life—none since 83.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top">April 1908.</td><td valign="top">1</td><td valign="top">26</td> +<td align="justify">(Time of traveling) 9 to 6; ice better; fields larger; +crevasses less troublesome; temp. -32°. There is no +more darkness at night.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">2</td><td valign="top">12</td> +<td align="justify">(Start) 9.30; (stop) 8. Smooth ice; hard snow; ice 28 +ft. and 32. Night bright but cloudy. Temp. -35°; +bar. 30.10; leads difficult.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">3</td><td valign="top">10</td> +<td align="justify">8.30 to 6.30. Temp. -39°; bar. 30.12; sky clearing at +noon, but low clouds and frosty haze persist in the W. +and N. Night bright; sun at midnight under cloud and +haze.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">4</td><td valign="top">14</td> +<td align="justify">8.45 to 6.10. Snow softer; used snowshoes; have +crossed 11 crevasses; much chopping; brash and small +hummocks.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">5</td><td valign="top">14</td> +<td align="justify">9 (A. M.) to 5.45 (P. M.). Snow better. Ice larger. +Oh, so tired! Snowshoes.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">6</td><td valign="top">14</td> +<td align="justify">8.10 (A. M.) to 6.15 (P. M.). Snow hard. Ice flat. +Few hummocks. Less wavy. Snow (shoes). Sun +faces.</td></tr> + +<tr><td valign="top"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_572" id="Page_572">[Pg 572]</a></span></td><td valign="top">7</td><td valign="top">14</td> +<td align="justify">11 to 10. Beautiful clear weather; even the night sky +clear. Midnight sun first seen. Ice 36 ft. (thick). +(Another measurement gave 21 feet.)</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">8</td><td valign="top">9</td> +<td align="justify">Observation before starting, 86.36, 94.2. In spite of +what seemed like long marches we made only 106 miles +in 9 days. Much distance lost in crossings. (From +field paper) bar. 29.50, rising; temp. -37°; wind mag. +N. E., 2; clouds St. 3; shadow (6 ft. pole), 32 feet.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">9</td><td valign="top">14</td> +<td align="justify">9 A. M. to 5.30 P. M.; snow hard; ice about the same; +wind cutting; frost bites. Clothes humid.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">10</td><td valign="top">16</td> +<td align="justify">10 P. M. to 7 A. M. Working hours changed; big +marches and long hours no longer possible; snow good; +ice steadily improving; bodily fatigue much felt; wind +1-28 W.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">11</td><td valign="top">15</td> +<td align="justify">10.30 to 8 A. M. Observation end of March, 87.20, 95.19; +the pack disturbance of B. Ld. lost; farthest north; +little crushed ice; old floes less irregular; anxious +about food; wind 3 W. (true); 300 miles in 24 days; work +intermittent; too tired to read instruments. (From +other field notes, Temp. -39°; bar. 29.90°.)</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">12</td><td valign="top">21</td> +<td align="justify">11 P. M. to 7 A. M. Thoughts of return. Food +supply reduced. Hope to economize in warmer weather. +Very heavy ice. Much like land ice. Wind 2 W. S. W. +The awful monotony!</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">13</td><td valign="top">17</td> +<td align="justify">12 P. M. to 7 A. M. The same heavy glacier-like ice.... +The occasional soup. +Hummocks 15-20 ft. Ahwelah in tears at start. W. +black. Sun under rushing vapors. Ice changes. Leads.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">14</td><td valign="top">23</td> +<td align="justify">11 P. M. to 7.10 A. M. 88.21, 95.52. Wind light but +penetrating. Off the big field, ice smaller. Some open +leads. Little sign of pressure. Snow soft, but less +precipitation. Dogs get up better speed. 100 miles +from Pole. (From other observation papers: Bar. 29.90, +falling; temp., -44°; shadow (6 ft. pole) 30½ feet.)</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">15</td><td valign="top">14</td> +<td align="justify">10 P. M. to 7 A. M. Ice same. Wind -1, S. W. Working +to the limit of muscle capacity. So tired and weary +of the never ceasing tread!</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">16</td><td valign="top">15</td> +<td align="justify">10.30 to 8 A. M. Ice passed. Several heavy old floes. +Made 6 crossings. Wind 1-3, W. S. W.</td></tr> + +<tr><td valign="top"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_573" id="Page_573">[Pg 573]</a></span></td><td valign="top">17</td><td valign="top">13</td> +<td align="justify">10.15 to 8 A. M. Ice same. Crevasses new. 7 crossings +Saw several big hummocks. Ice less troublesome. +Temp., -40°; bar., 30.00. Sled friction less.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">18</td><td valign="top">14</td> +<td align="justify">9 P. M. to 6. Ice, though broken, smooth. The horizon +line not so irregular as that of more S. ice. Sky and +ice of a dark purple blue. (Bar. 30.02.)</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">19</td><td valign="top">16</td> +<td align="justify">11 P. M. to 8 A. M. (Position) 89.31. D. R. 94.03. +Camp on an old field—the only one on the horizon with +big hummocks. Ice in very large fields; surface less +irregular, but in other respects not different from +farther S. Eskimos told that in two average marches Pole +would be reached. Extra rations served. Camp in tent. +(Bar., 29.98; Temp., -46°.)</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">20</td><td valign="top">15½</td> +<td align="justify">8 P. M. to 4 A. M. An exciting run; ice aglow in +purple and gold; Eskimos chanting. Wind, S. 1 89; 46.45. +(D. R.) 94.52. New enthusiasm; good march. Temp., +-36°; bar. (not legible on notes); course set for 97th.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">21</td><td valign="top">13½</td> +<td align="justify">1 A. M. to 9 A. M. Observations noon: 89; 59.45; ped. +14. Camp; sleep in tent short time; after observations +advance; pitch tent; (also) made camp—snow—prepared +for two rounds of observations. Temp., 37.7°; +bar., 29.83. Nothing wonderful; no Pole; a sea of +unknown depth; ice more active; new cracks; open +leads; but surface like farther south. Overjoyed but +find no words to express pleasure. So tired and weary! +How we need a rest! 12, night. Sun seems as high as +at noon, but in reality is a little higher, owing to its +spiral ascent. The mental elation—the drying of furs, +and (making) photos—Eskimos' ideas and disappointment +of no Pole—thoughts of home and its cheer. But +oh, such monotony of sky, wind and ice! The dangers +of getting back. (From other observation papers: +Temp, ranged from -36° by mercury thermometer to +-39° by spirit thermometer; clouds Alt. St., 1; wind +mag. S., 1; ice blink E.; water sky, W.; shadow (of 6 +ft. pole) 28 feet.)</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">22</td><td valign="top">0</td> +<td align="justify">Moved camp 4 m. magnetic S. Made 4 observations for +altitude; S. at noon, W. at 6, N. at 12M, E. at 6 A. M. +Ice same; more open water; wind 2-3; temp., -41°; +(from field paper) W. S. W., 1 to 2. There are only +two big hummocks in sight. (Made a series of observations +for the sun's altitude, 2 on the 21st at the first +camp, 4 on the 22nd at W. M. camp, and another midnight +22-23. Before we left deposited tube.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td valign="top"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_574" id="Page_574">[Pg 574]</a></span></td><td valign="top">23</td><td valign="top">20</td> +<td align="justify">Start for home. 12.30 to noon. Fairly clear—ice +smooth, but many new crevasses. Temp., -41°. Course +for 100 mer.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">24</td><td valign="top">16</td> +<td align="justify">11 P. M. to 9 A. M. These records, being made at the +end of the day's journey, give the doings of the day +previous—this note for the 24th is in reality written +on the morning of the 25th, when comfortable in camp. +Wind 1-2 W. Temp., -36°. Ice smooth—fields larger; +5 crossings; the pleasure of facing home.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">25</td><td valign="top">15</td> +<td align="justify">8-8. Temp., -37°; Wind 1-2 W. S. W.; ice same. The +worry of ice breaking up for me, signs of joy for the +Eskimo.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">26</td><td valign="top">14</td> +<td align="justify">9 to 7. Still much worried about return; possibility of +ice disruption and open water near land; wind light; +ice shows new cracks, but few have opened; seems to +be little pressure; few hummocks; snow hard and +traveling all that could be desired.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">27</td><td valign="top">14</td> +<td align="justify">9.30 to 8. Ice same; wind S. E. 1; good going; crossings +not troublesome; dogs in good spirits; Eskimos +happy; but all very tired. Temp., -40°.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">28</td><td valign="top">14</td> +<td align="justify">9.15 to 7.45. Ice same; wind 1 W.; snow moderately +hard; few hummocks and no pressure lines.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">29</td><td valign="top">13</td> +<td align="justify">Midnight to 8.45 A. M. Ice more active; fresh cracks; +some open cracks but no leads. Wind 1 S.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">30</td><td valign="top">15</td> +<td align="justify">Midnight to 8 A. M. Ped. registered 121 m. from Pole; +camp by D. R., 87.59-100; observations 88.01, 97.42. +Course half point more W. Temp., -34°. Start more +westerly.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top">May 1908.</td><td valign="top">1</td><td valign="top">18</td> +<td align="justify">12.30 to 9 A. M. Much color to the sunbursts, but the +air humid; the temperature persistently near -40°, but<br /> +considerable range with the direction of the light winds +and mists when they come over leads. Much very heavy +smooth ice—undulating, not hummocky like S.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">2</td><td valign="top">12</td> +<td align="justify">2 A. M. to 11 A. M. Fog, clouds and wet air. Temp., +-15°. Hard to strike a course.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">3</td><td valign="top">13</td> +<td align="justify">1 A. M. to 10 A. M. Thick weather; wind E. 2; ice +friction less; occasional light snow fall.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">4</td><td valign="top">14</td> +<td align="justify">3 to 11 A. M. Air clear but sky obscured; ice very +good, but hummocks appearing on the horizon.</td></tr> + +<tr><td valign="top"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_575" id="Page_575">[Pg 575]</a></span></td><td valign="top">5</td><td valign="top">11</td> +<td align="justify">11 P. M. to 6 A. M. Strong wind; occasional breathing +spell behind hummocks; squally with drifts.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">6</td><td valign="top">0</td> +<td align="justify">In camp. Stopped by signs of storm; tried to build +igloo but wind prevented; in a collapsed tent for 24 +hours; eat only half ration of pemmican.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">7</td><td valign="top">10</td> +<td align="justify">8 A. M. to 3 P. M. Wind detestable; ice bad; life a +torture; sky persistently obscured; no observations; +pedometer out of order, only time to gauge our distance.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">8</td><td valign="top">12</td> +<td align="justify">2 A. M. to 10. Weather bad; windy, S. W.; some +drift; heavy going.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">9</td><td valign="top">13</td> +<td align="justify">1 to 8 A. M. (Weather) thick; wind easier; ice in big +fields; snow a little harder, snowshoes steady.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">10</td><td valign="top">13</td> +<td align="justify">11 P. M. of the 9th to 6 A. M. Heavy going but little +friction on sled; some drift; see more hummocks.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">11</td><td valign="top">0</td> +<td align="justify">May 11. In camp. Strong wind; heavy drift; encircle +tent with snow blocks.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">12</td><td valign="top">11</td> +<td align="justify">12.30 to 8.30 A. M. Wind still strong; cestrugi troublesome, +but temperature moderate; sled loads getting +light.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">13</td><td valign="top">12</td> +<td align="justify">11 P. M. of 12th, to 7.30 A. M. of 13th. Wind easier, +S. S. W.; snow harder; ice very thick and very large +fields; fog.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">14</td><td valign="top">9</td> +<td align="justify">3 A. M. to 9 A. M. No sky; strong wind compelled to +camp early.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">15</td><td valign="top">13</td> +<td align="justify">1 A. M. to 10. Fog; ice much crevassed; passed over +several cracks—some opening.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">16</td><td valign="top">14</td> +<td align="justify">May 16. 11 P. M. of the 15th to 6 A. M. Cl. 10; wind +again troublesome; light diffused, making it difficult to +find footing.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">17</td><td valign="top">11</td> +<td align="justify">2 A. M. to 10. Thick; ice more and more broken; +smaller and more cracked—cracks give much trouble.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">18</td><td valign="top">11</td> +<td align="justify">1 A. M. to 9.30. Wind more southerly and strong; ice +separating; some open water in leads.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">19</td><td valign="top">12</td> +<td align="justify">11 P. M. to 7.30. Wind veering east; fog thicker; +ice very much broken, but snow surface good.</td></tr> + +<tr><td valign="top"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_576" id="Page_576">[Pg 576]</a></span></td><td valign="top">20</td><td valign="top">6</td> +<td align="justify">Midnight to 9 A. M. Open water; active pack; almost impossible.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">21</td><td valign="top">8</td> +<td align="justify">11 P. M. to 9. Conditions the same; our return seems +almost hopeless; no observations—cannot even guess at +the drift.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">22</td><td valign="top">0</td> +<td align="justify">In camp. Gale N. E.; temp, high; air wet; ice breaking +and grinding; worried about the ultimate return; food +low.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">23</td><td valign="top">5</td> +<td align="justify">3 A. M. to 7 A. M. Still squally, but forced a short +march.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">24</td><td valign="top">12</td> +<td align="justify">12 noon to 8 A. M. Short clearing at noon; the first clear +mid-day sky for a long time; west still in haze. Water +sky W. and S. W.; no land in sight—though the boys +saw the land later when I was asleep; ice much broken. +84° 02ʹ-97° 03ʹ.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">25</td><td valign="top">14</td> +<td align="justify">10 P. M. to 6 A. M. Ice better; no wind; thick fog; +snow hard. Temp., -10°.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">26</td><td valign="top">12</td> +<td align="justify">11 P. M. to 7.45 A. M. Ice in fields of about 1 M. +somewhat hummocky; crossings hard; no wind.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">27</td><td valign="top">11</td> +<td align="justify">11.30 P. M. to 9.30 A. M. Ice same; thick fog.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">28</td><td valign="top">13</td> +<td align="justify">12 m. night to 10 A. M. Ice still same; fog; wind 3, +shifting E. S. E. and S. W.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">29</td><td valign="top">11</td> +<td align="justify">11.30 P. M. to 9.30 A. M. As we came here the water +sky in the southwest to which we had aimed, gradually +working west, led to a wide open lead, extending from +north to south, and almost before knowing it, in the +general plan of the ice arrangement, we found ourselves +to the east of this lead. Temp. rose to zero. Ice much +broken; air thick; light vague; impossible to see irregularities. +Food 3/4 rations; and straight course for Nansen +Sound.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">30</td><td valign="top">10</td> +<td align="justify">12 to 11 A. M. Ice in heaps; open water; brash the +worst trouble; little fog.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">31</td><td valign="top">11</td> +<td align="justify">11.15 P. M. to 9 A. M. Ice little better; snow hard; +sleds go easy; much helping required (over pressure +lines).</td></tr> + + +<tr><td>June 1908.</td><td>1</td><td>12</td> +<td align="justify">10.45 to 8. Ice in large fields; many hummocks; few heavy fields.</td></tr> + +<tr><td valign="top"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_577" id="Page_577">[Pg 577]</a></span></td><td valign="top">2</td><td valign="top">12</td> +<td align="justify">10 P. M. to 9 A. M. Ice steadily improving.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">3</td><td valign="top">11</td> +<td align="justify">10 P. M. to 8 A. M. Ice begins to show action of sun. +Temperature occasionally above freezing.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">4</td><td valign="top">10</td> +<td align="justify">9.30 P. M. to 7.30 A. M. Fog; ice offering much trouble, +but friction little and load light.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">5</td><td valign="top">11</td> +<td align="justify">9.45 P. M. to 7 A. M. Hummocks exposed to sun have +icicles.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">6</td><td valign="top">0</td> +<td align="justify">In camp. Strong N. W. gale.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">7</td><td valign="top">0</td> +<td align="justify">In camp. Gale continues, with much snow; the ice +about breaks up; anxious about map. (Not knowing +either drift or position, were puzzled as to proper +course to set.)</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">8</td><td valign="top">14</td> +<td align="justify">1 A. M. to noon. Ice bad, but snow hard, and after +rest progress good; wind still blowing west.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">9</td><td valign="top">10</td> +<td align="justify">11 P. M. to 9 A. M. With thick ice and this kind of +traveling it is hard to guess at distances.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">10</td><td valign="top">0</td> +<td align="justify">10.30 P. M. to 8. Bad ice; open leads; still no sun. +</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">11</td><td valign="top">14</td> +<td align="justify">10 P. M. to 8 A. M. Large smooth ice; little snow; +wind S. W., 1; no fog, but sky still of lead.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">12</td><td valign="top">15</td> +<td align="justify">10.30 to 5. Small fields but good going; sky black +to the east.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">13</td><td valign="top">14</td> +<td align="justify">10 to 8 A. M. Fog cleared first time since last observation. +Land in sight south and east. Heiberg and +Ringnes Land; water sky; small ice; brash and drift +eastward. We have been carried adrift far to the south +and west, and examination of ice eastward proves that +all is small ice and open water. Heiberg Island is impossible +to us. What is our fate? Food and fuel is +about exhausted, though we still have 10 bony dogs. +Upon these and our little pemmican we can possibly +survive for 20 days. In the meantime we must go +somewhere. To the south is our only hope.</td></tr> + +</table></div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—<i>June 14</i> and thereafter to <i>September 1</i>, all notes were briefly +jotted down in another diary, a collection of loose leaves in which the +observations of the return were made. This diary was left with the instruments +at Etah with Mr. Whitney. The data, however, had been rewritten +at Cape Sparbo, so that the notes had served their purpose and were of +no further value when no pretentious publication was anticipated.</p> + +<p>Other notes were made on loose sheets of paper or on leaves of the +note books. Many of these were destroyed, others were rubbed out to +make room for recording what was regarded as more important data, and +a few were retained quite by accident.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_578" id="Page_578">[Pg 578]</a></span></p> +<h2>QUESTIONS THAT ENTER CALCULATIONS FOR<br /> +POSITION OF THE NORTH POLE.</h2> + +<h4>By <span class="smcap">Frederick A. Cook.</span></h4> + + +<p>Much abstruse, semi-scientific and academic material has +been forced into the polar discussions about proofs by observation. +The problem presented is full of interesting points, and +to elucidate these I will ask the reader to go back with me to +that elusive imaginary spot, the North Pole. Here we find +no pole—and absolutely nothing to mark the spot for hundreds +of miles. We are in the center of a great moving sea of ice and +for 500 miles in every direction it is the same hopeless desert of +floating, shifting crystal. I believed then that we had reached +the Pole, and it never occurred to me that there would be a cry +for absolute proof. Such a demand had never been presented +before. The usual data of the personal narrative of the explorers +had always been received with good faith. But let us +reopen the question and examine the whole problem.</p> + +<p>Is there any positive proof for a problem of this kind? +Is there any one sure shoulder upon which we can hang the +mantle of polar conquest? We are deprived of the usual landmarks +of terrestrially fixed points. The effort to furnish proof +is like trying to fix a point in Mid-Atlantic. But here you +have the tremendous advantage of known compass variation, +sure time, reasonably accurate corrections. Not only by careful +observation at sea of fixed stars and other astronomical +data, but by an easy and quick access to and from each shore, +and by reliable tables for reductions gathered during scores of +years of experience.</p> + +<p>All this is denied in the mid-polar basins at the time when +it is possible to arrive there. There is no night, there are no +stars, and the sun, the only fixed object by which a position +can be calculated, is not absolutely fixable. It is low on the +horizon. Its rays are bent in getting to the recording instruments +while passing through the thick maze of floating ice mist. +This mist always rests on the pack even in clear days. The +very low temperature of the atmosphere and the distorting,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_579" id="Page_579">[Pg 579]</a></span> +twisting mirage effect of different strata of air, with radically +different temperatures, wherein each stratum has a different +density, carry different quantities of frosted humidity.</p> + +<p>All of this gives to the sunbeam, upon which the calculation +for latitude and longitude is based, the deceptive appearance +of a paddle thrust into clear water. The paddle in such +case seems bent. The sunbeam is bent in a like manner, since +it passes through an unknown depth of refractory air +for the correction of which no law can be devised until modern +aerial navigation brings to a science that very complex problem +of the geography of the atmosphere. For this reason, and for +others which we will presently show, this whole idea of proof by +figures as devised by Mr. Peary and the armchair geographers, +falls to pieces.</p> + +<p>Let us take the noon observation—a fairly certain method +to determine latitude in most zones of the earth where for +hundreds of years we have learned to make certain corrections, +which by use have been incorporated as laws in the art of +navigation. About five minutes before local noon the sea captain +goes to the bridge with sextant in hand. His time is +certain, but even if it were not, the sun rises and sets and +therefore changes its altitude quickly. The captain screws the +sun down to a fixed angle on his sextant; he puts the instrument +aside; then takes it up again, brings the sun to the +horizon, examines his instrument. The sun has risen a little +further; it is not yet noon. This is repeated again and again, +and at last the sun begins to descend. It is now local noon. +This gives a rough check for his time. There is a certain sure +moment for his observation at just the second when it is +accurate,—when the sun's highest ascent has been reached. +Such advantages are impossible when nearing the Pole. The +chronometers have been shooting the shoots of the pack for +weeks. The sudden changes of temperature also disturb the +mechanism, and therefore time, that very important factor upon +which all astronomical data rest, is at best only a rough guess. +For this reason alone, if for no other, such as unknown refraction +and other optical illusions, the determination of longitude +when nearing the Pole becomes difficult and unreliable. All +concede this, but latitude, we are told by the armchair observer, +is easy and sure. Let us see.</p> + +<p>The time nears to get a peep of the sun at noon, but what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_580" id="Page_580">[Pg 580]</a></span> +is local noon? The chronometers may be, and probably are, +far off. And there is no way to correct even approximately. +I do not mean on hours, but there may be unknowable differences +of minutes, and each minute represents a mile. Let us +see how this affects our noon observation. Five or ten minutes +before local noon the observer levels his artificial horizon and +with sextant in hand lies down on the snow. A little drift and +nose bleaching wind complicate matters. The fingers are cold; +the instrument must be handled with mittens; the cold is such +that at best a shiver runs up the spine, the eye blinks with +snow glitter and frost. The arms, hands and legs become stiff +from cold and from inaction. He tries exactly what the sea +captain does in comfort on the bridge, but his time is a guess, +he watches the sun, he tries to catch it when it is highest, +but this is about as difficult as it is to catch a girl in the act of +winking when her back is turned.</p> + +<p>The sun does not rise and set as it does in temperate +climes—it circles the horizon day and night in a spiral ascent +so nearly parallel to the line of the horizon that it is a practical +impossibility to determine by any possible means at hand when +it is highest. One may lie on that snow for an hour, and +though steadied with the patience of Job, the absolute determination +of the highest point of the sun's altitude or the local +noon is almost a physical impossibility.</p> + +<p>This observation is not accurate and gives only results of +use in connection with other calculations. These results at +best are also subject to that unknown allowance for really +great atmospheric refraction. The geographic student will, I +am sure, agree that against this the magnetic needle will offer +some check, for if you can be certain that when the needle +points to a positive direction, then it is a simple matter to get +approximate time with it and the highest noon altitude; but +since the correction for the needle, like that of latitude and +longitude, is based on accurate time, and since it is further +influenced by other local and general unknown conditions—therefore +even the compass, that sheet anchor of the navigator, +is as uncertain as other aids to fixing a position in the polar +basin.</p> + +<p>In making such observations an artificial horizon must be +used. This offers an uncontrollable element of inaccuracy in all +Arctic observations when the sun is low.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_581" id="Page_581">[Pg 581]</a></span></p> + +<p>My observations were made with the sun about 12° above +the horizon. At this angle the image of the sun is dragged +over the glass or mercury with no sharp outlines, a mere streak +of light, and not a perfect, sharp-cut image of the sun which +an important observation demands.</p> + +<p>Mr. Peary's altitudes were all less than 7°. I challenge +any one to produce a clear cut image of the sun on an artificial +horizon with the sun at that angle. All such observations +therefore are unreliable because of imperfect contact, for which +there can be no correction.</p> + +<p>The question of error by refraction is one of very great +importance. In the known zones the accumulated lesson of ages +has given us certain tables for correction, but even with these +advantages few navigators would take an observation when the +sun is but 7° above the horizon and count it of any value +whatever.</p> + +<p>In the Arctic the problem of refraction presents probable +inaccuracies, not of seconds or minutes, but possibly of degrees. +Every Arctic traveler has seen in certain atmospheric conditions +a dog enlarged to the image of a bear. A raven frequently +looks like a man, and a hummock, but 25 feet high, a +short distance away, will at times rise to the proportions of a +mountain. Mirages turn things topsy-turvy, and the whole +polar topography is distorted by optical illusions. Many explorers +have seen the returning sun over a sea horizon after the +long night one or two days before the correct time for its +reappearance. This gives you an error in observations which +can be a matter of 60 miles.</p> + +<p>Here is a tangle in optics, which cannot under the present +knowledge of conditions be elucidated, and yet with all these +disadvantages, the group of armchair geographers of the National +Geographic Society pronounces a series of sun altitudes +less than 7° above the horizon as proof positive of the attainment +of the Pole. Furthermore these men are personal friends +of Mr. Peary, and the society for whom they act is financially +interested in the venture which they indorsed.</p> + +<p>Is this verdict based upon either science or justice, or +honor?</p> + +<p>In response to a public clamor for a peep at these papers, +a more detestable unfairness was forced on the public. The +venerable director of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, who was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_582" id="Page_582">[Pg 582]</a></span> +one of Mr. Peary's jurors, instead of showing his hand, and +thus freeing himself from a dishonest entanglement, asked his +underlings, H. C. Mitchell and C. R. Duval, to stoop to a +dishonor to veil the humbug previously perpetrated. Under +the instruction of their chief, the first figures of Mr. Peary's +sextant readings have been taken, and by manipulating these +they have helped Mr. Peary by saying that their calculation +placed Mr. Peary within two miles of the Pole.</p> + +<p>Perhaps Mr. Peary was at the pin-point of the Pole, but +when he allows his friends to use questionable methods to give a +false security to his claim, then his claim is insecure indeed.</p> + +<p>Mitchell and Duval took the sextant readings at face value. +If Mr. Peary or his computers had frankly admitted the uncertainty +of the grounds upon which these sextant readings rested, +then one would be inclined to grant the benefit of doubt; but +as was the case regarding the verdict of the National Geographic +Society, the public was carefully excluded from a +knowledge of the shaky grounds upon which these calculations +are based. The impossibility of correct time and adequate +allowance for refraction render such figures useless as proof of +a position. But what about the image of the sun upon the +artificial horizon?</p> + +<p>An important observation demands that this should be +sharp and clear, otherwise the observation is worthless. Mitchell +and Duval have surely thought of this. Perhaps they have +tried an experiment. As real scientific students they should +have experimented with the figures with which they played. If +the experiment has not been made they are incompetent. In +either case a trick has been used to bolster up the deceptive +verdict of the National Geographic Society.</p> + +<p>A dish of molasses, a bull's eye lantern and a dark room are +all that is necessary to prove how the public has been deceived +by men in the Government pay as scientific computers. With +the bull's eye as the sun, the molasses or any other reflecting +surface as a horizon, with the light striking the surface at less +than 7 degrees, as Mr. Peary's sun did, it will be found that the +sun's image is an oblong streak of light with ill-defined edges. +Such an image cannot be recorded on a sextant with sufficient +accuracy to make it of any use as an observation. Mitchell and +Duval must know this. If so, they are dishonest, for they did +not tell the public about it. If they did not know it they are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_583" id="Page_583">[Pg 583]</a></span> +incompetent and should be dismissed from the Government +service.</p> + +<p>With all of these uncertainties a course which gives a +workable plan of action can be laid over the blank charts, but +there always remains the feebly guarded mystery of the ice +drift. When the course is set, the daily run of distance can be +checked by estimating speed and hourly progress with the +watches. Against this there is the check of the pedometer or +some other automatic measure for distance covered. The shortening +night shadows and the gradual coming to a place where +the night and day shadows are of about equal length is a +positive conviction to him who is open to self-conviction, as a +polar aspirant is likely to be. But frankly and candidly, when +I now review one and all of these methods of fixing the North +Pole, or the position of a traveler en route to it, I am bound +to admit that all attempt at proof represented by figures is +built on a foundation of possible and unknowable inaccuracy. +Figures may convince an armchair geographer who has a preconceived +opinion, but to the true scientist with the many +chances for mistakes above indicated there is no real proof. +The verdict on such data must always be "not proven" if the +evidence rests on a true scientific examination of material which +at best and in the very nature of things is not checked by the +precision which science demands. The real proof—if proof is +possible—is the continuity of the final printed book that gives +all the data with the consequent variations.</p> + + +<h4>FROM A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE POLAR CLAIMS IN A +FORTHCOMING BOOK<br /> + +<br />By <span class="smcap">Captain Thomas F. Hall</span> of Omaha, Neb.</h4> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<h4>DR. COOK'S VALID CLAIM.</h4> + +<p>Cook's narrative has been before the public nearly two years. It has +been subject to the most minute scrutiny that invention, talent and money +could give. It is to-day absolutely unscathed. Not one item in it from +beginning to end has been truthfully discredited. It stands unimpeached. +Mud enough has been thrown. Bribery and conspiracy have done their +worst. A campaign of infamy has been waged, and spent its force; but +not one solitary sentence has been proven wrong. Musk-ox fakes, starved +dogs, fictitious astronomical or other calculations may have some effect on +popular opinion; but they have none on the actual facts. They do not +budge the truth a hair's breadth and they do not make history.</p> + +<p>Cook's claim to the Discovery of the North Pole is as sound and as +valid as the other claims of discovery, or the achievement of any one +preceding him in the Arctic or the Antarctic.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_584" id="Page_584">[Pg 584]</a></span></p> + + +<h4>VERDICT OF GEN. A. W. GREELY, REAR ADMIRAL W. S. SCHLEY +AND OTHER ARCTIC EXPERTS</h4> + +<p>Dr. Cook is the discoverer of the North Pole.—<span class="smcap">General A. W. Greely.</span></p> + +<p>No one familiar with the Polar problem doubts Dr. Cook's success. Peary +never tried to get to the Pole. He copied Cook's data and then, by official intrigue +tried to "put it over." A study of Peary's deception on compass variation will +prove that.—<span class="smcap">Clark Brown.</span></p> + +<p>You can prove the discovery of Northermost Land. The Eskimo talk is +nonsense. The Polar discussion should be settled by an International Commission—<span class="smcap">Prof. +Otto Nordenskjold.</span></p> + +<p>Dr. Cook was the first and only man to reach the North Pole—<span class="smcap">Chas. E. +Rilliet.</span></p> + +<p>I have gone over all of Dr. Cook's data, and, in spite of the statements to +the contrary, I believe he reached the Pole.—<span class="smcap">Maurice Connell.</span></p> + +<p>It has always been my pleasure to support Dr. Cook. I can see no reason +for doubting his success. Who are his accusers, surely not Arctic Explorers?—<span class="smcap">Captain +Otto Sverdrup.</span></p> + +<p>I am convinced that if anyone reached the Pole, Dr. Cook got there.—<span class="smcap">Andrew +J. Stone.</span></p> + +<p>From first to last I have championed Dr. Cook's cause, and after going +over the printed records of both claimants I am doubly convinced that he reached +the Pole.—<span class="smcap">Captain Edward A. Haven.</span></p> + +<p>Dr. Cook reached the Pole, I doubt Peary, his observations bear the stamp +of inexcusable inaccuracy and bunglesome carelessness. One cannot read Peary's +book and believe in him.—<span class="smcap">Captain John Menander.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p class="ralign">Washington, D. C., <br /> +Jan. 7th, 1911.</p> + +<p class="noin">Dear Dr. Cook:</p> + +<p>... I would assure you that I have never varied in the belief that you reached the Pole. +After reading the published accounts, daily and critically, of both claimants, I was forced +to the conclusion from their striking similarity that each of you was the eye witness +of the other's success.</p> + +<p>Without collusion it would have been impossible to have written accounts +so similar, and yet in view of the ungracious controversy that has occurred since +that view (collusion) would be impossible to imagine.</p> + +<p>While I have never believed that either of you got within a pin-point of the +Pole, I have steadfastly held that both got as near the goal as was possible to +ascertain considering the imperfections of the instruments used and the personal +errors of individuals under circumstances as adverse to absolute accuracy.</p> + +<p>Again I have been broad enough in my views to believe that there was +room enough at the Pole for two; and never narrow enough to believe that only +one man got there.</p> + +<p>I believe that both are entitled to the honor of the achievement.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span style="margin-right: 9em;">Very truly yours,</span><br /> +(Signed) <span class="smcap">W. S. Schley.</span></p> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_585" id="Page_585">[Pg 585]</a></span></p> +<h2>POSITIVE PROOF OF DR. COOK'S ATTAINMENT +OF THE POLE</h2> + +<h4><span class="smcap">By CAPTAIN EVELYN BRIGGS BALDWIN</span></h4> + + +<p class="blockquot">METEOROLOGIST PEARY EXPEDITION, 1893-4, SECOND-IN-COMMAND +WELLMAN EXPEDITION 1898-9, AND ORGANIZER AND +LEADER OF THE BALDWIN-ZIEGLER POLAR EXPEDITION, +1901-2, ETC.</p> + + +<p>I can prove the truth of Dr. Cook's statements in regard +to his discovery of the North Pole from Peary's own official +record of his last dash to the Northward.</p> + +<p>So far as I can learn, Dr. Cook has never made a "confession" +in regard to his trip to the Pole in the sense that he +denied his first statements. He has merely said that, in view of +the great difficulty in determining the exact location of the +Pole, he may not have been exactly upon the northernmost +pin-point of the world. Peary, under pressure at the Congressional +investigation, was forced to admit the same.</p> + +<p>For three hundred years there has been a rivalry among +civilized men to be the first to reach the North Pole. I believe +that the honor of having succeeded in the attempt should go—not +to Peary—but to the man who reached the Pole a year +before Peary claims to have been there.</p> + +<p>Dr. Cook is now in New York City, and I have talked with +him several times recently. With the information that I myself +have gathered, I believe that he really did reach the Pole, +or came so close to that point that he is entitled to the credit +of the Pole's discovery.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_586" id="Page_586">[Pg 586]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illo_638.jpg" width="600" height="719" alt="THE LAND-DIVIDED ICE-PACK REPORTED BY PEARY +PROVES COOK'S ATTAINMENT OF THE POLE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE LAND-DIVIDED ICE-PACK REPORTED BY PEARY +PROVES COOK’S ATTAINMENT OF THE POLE</span> +</div> + +<p>Bradley Land is located between latitude 84 and 85. +It was discovered by Cook in his Poleward march. The land +ice, or glacial ice, which Cook also discovered, is located +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_587" id="Page_587">[Pg 587]</a></span> +between latitude 87 and latitude 88. Cook's line of march carried +him thirty or forty miles to the east of Bradley Land and +then upon the glacial ice. The proximity to the new land +gave Cook a favorable land-protected surface upon which to +travel, and also afforded him protection from gales and from +the consequent movements of the pack-ice westward of the new +lands. Cook traveled in the lee of the groups of islands and +over ice floes more stationary than the ice farther to the east, +over which Peary traveled.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Evidence of Cook's Travels</span></h3> + +<p>A critical examination of Peary's book not only reveals +a remarkable corroboration of Cook's discovery of Bradley +Land and the glacial island north of it, but also seems to indicate +the existence of islands farther west between the same +parallels of latitude.</p> + +<p>Referring to page 250, when beyond the 86th parallel, +Peary says: "In this march there was some pretty heavy going. +Part of the way was over some old floes, which had been broken +up by many seasons of unceasing conflict with the winds and +tides. Enclosing these more or less level floes were heavy pressure +ridges over which we and the dogs were obliged to climb." +In other words, the floes which Peary describes in this part of +his journey clearly indicate that they were just such floes as +one would expect to find after having passed through a group +of islands, and, therefore, contrasting naturally with the immense +size of the floes which both Cook and Peary traversed +north of the 88th parallel.</p> + +<p>Beginning with page 258, we have a most instructive description +by Peary of the ice between the parallels wherein +Cook locates the glacial ice and upon which he traveled for two +days. It is such ice as one would expect to find after having +passed around the north and south ends of an island from forty +to sixty miles to the westward. This particular area Peary designates +as a veritable "Arctic Phlegethon," and it is inconceivable +to believe in this Phlegethon without also believing in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_588" id="Page_588">[Pg 588]</a></span> +existence of the glacial ice, as located and described by Dr. +Cook. Let us, therefore, examine Peary's narrative minutely. He +says, on page 259, "When I awoke the following day, March +28, the sky was apparently clear; but, ahead of us, was a thick, +smoky, ominous haze drifting low over the ice, and a bitter +northeast wind, which, in the orthography of the Arctic, plainly +spelled 'Open Water'...."</p> + +<p>Also, on the same page: "After traveling at a good rate +for six hours along Bartlett's trail, we came upon his camp beside +a wide lead, with a dense black, watery sky to the northwest, +north and northeast."</p> + +<p>Again, on page 260: "... The break in the ice had +occurred within a foot of the fastening of one of my dog teams, +... Bartlett's igloo was moving east on the ice raft, which +had broken, and beyond it, as far as the belching fog from the +lead would let us see, there was nothing but black water."</p> + +<p>Finally, on page 262, Peary says: "This last march had +put us well beyond my record of three years before, probably +87° 12ʹ. The following day, March 29, was not a happy +one for us. Though we were all tired enough to rest, we +did not enjoy picnicing beside this Arctic Phlegethon which, +hour after hour, to the north, northeast and northwest, seemed +to belch black smoke like a prairie fire.... Bartlett +made a sounding of one thousand two hundred and sixty +fathoms, but found no bottom."</p> + +<p>In the foregoing we have positive proof that this almost +open water area was not caused by shoals at that immediate +point.</p> + +<p>Peary's concern as regards this big hole in the ice-pack is +set forth further on page 265, as follows: "The entire region +through which we had come during the last four marches was +full of unpleasant possibilities for the future. Only too well +we knew that violent winds, for only a few hours, would send +the ice all abroad in every direction. Crossing such a zone on +a journey north is only half the problem, for there is always +the return to be figured on. Though the motto of the Arctic +must be 'Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,' we ardently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_589" id="Page_589">[Pg 589]</a></span> +hoped there might not be violent winds until we were south of +this zone again on the return."</p> + +<p>From this it is apparent that Peary realized fully the permanent +character of this Phlegethon over which he was traveling. +With astonishing persistency, he refers again and again +to this particular locality. Quoting from page 303, when on +his return march, he says: "There was one region just above +the 87th parallel, a region about fifty-seven miles wide, which +gave me a great deal of concern until we had passed it. Twelve +hours of strong wind blowing from any quarter excepting the +north would have turned that region into an open sea. I +breathed a sigh of relief when we left the 87th parallel behind."</p> + +<p>And, as though the Phlegethon had not already been sufficiently +described, on page 307 we find recorded: "Inspired by +our good fortune we pressed on again completing two marches, +and when we camped we were very near the 87th parallel. The +entry that I made in my diary that night is perhaps worth quoting: +'Hope to reach the Marvin Igloo (86° 38ʹ) to-morrow. +I shall be glad when we get there on to the big ice +again. This region here was open water during February and +the early part of March and is now covered with young ice +which is thoroughly unreliable as a means of return. A few +hours of a brisk wind east, west, or south, would make this entire +region open water for some fifty to sixty miles north and +south, and an unknown extent east and west. Only calm +weather or a northerly wind keeps it practicable.'"</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Absolute Proof of Cook's Claim</span></h3> + +<p>From the foregoing it is self-evident that Peary's observations +by sextant could not be more corroborative of Cook's +latitude than that the Phlegethon is proof of the existence of +a glacial island between the same two parallels traversed by both +explorers. Cook had discovered the <i>cause</i>, and Peary followed +to discover the effect of that <i>cause</i>. To one familiar with the +conditions of ice-floes in the vicinity of islands in the Arctic +the reasons for this are as clear as it would be to the lay mind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_590" id="Page_590">[Pg 590]</a></span> +should it be suddenly announced that on a certain date +an astronomer had discovered the head of a comet, which +being doubted by rival investigators, might lead to the unhappy +discrediting of the original discoverer; but should it be +as suddenly announced that a rival astronomer had observed +the tail of a comet in the same locality there would quite certainly +follow a reversal of public sentiment.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Evidence of His Travels</span></h3> + +<p>Of first importance also in proving the existence of new +lands discovered by Cook is the evidence derived from the existence +of animal life, since Arctic game clings close to the +shore line in its search for food. Birds must find their nesting +places on lands. Foxes live upon birds and the refuse left in +the trails of polar bears and seals. Seals feed upon shrimps +and find the chief source of food in waters close to the land. +Polar bears in turn feed upon seals, and necessarily are found +more numerously about lands or islands.</p> + +<p>For this reason we will examine Peary's official narrative +of his journey north for evidence of Dr. Cook's discovery of +land to within 2° of the North Pole. Having noted +Dr. Cook's statement relative to the blow hole of a seal near +Bradley Island, we will follow in Peary's trail for corroboration +of Cook's journey eleven months previous, and a comparatively +short distance westward of Peary's line of march. +Referring to Peary's "North Pole" on page 249, while in latitude +85° 48ʹ he records:</p> + +<p>"While we were engaged in this business we saw a seal +disporting himself in the open water of the lead."</p> + +<p>Still farther along, when in latitude 86° 13ʹ, Peary +states, on page 252: "Along the course of one of those leads +we saw the fresh tracks of a polar bear going west."</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Animal Trails Verify Cook's Report</span></h3> + +<p>Arctic travelers will well appreciate the force of this statement +relative to the polar bear, who, scenting the land a few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_591" id="Page_591">[Pg 591]</a></span> +miles to the westward, was in search of seals. The freshness of +the bear's tracks is proof that it had not drifted on some ice floe +from remote parts of the Arctic basin.</p> + +<p>Again, referring to page 257, we find that Peary while +traveling through deep snow March 28, records: "During the +day we saw the tracks of two foxes in this remote and icy wilderness, +nearly two hundred and forty nautical miles beyond +the northern coast of Grant Land."</p> + +<p>It is worthy of note that Peary does not state just how +far from the glacial or land ice upon the submerged island over +which Cook traveled the fox tracks were. But it is evident +that the foxes were less than two sleeps from land, since Peary +states that Marvin's observation placed them in about latitude +86° 38ʹ, the very latitude in which Cook traveled upon the stationary +land ice.</p> + +<p>Still again, page 307, while on his return march and near +the 88th parallel Peary observes: "Here we noticed some fox +tracks that had just been made. The animal was probably +disturbed by our approach. These are the most northerly +animal tracks ever seen."</p> + +<p>Certainly. Why not? Since they were so near the northern +termination of the land ice discovered by Dr. Cook. In +this connection it is also important to remark that between +latitude 88 and his approximate approach to the Pole, Dr. +Cook makes no mention of animal life, and this is corroborated +by Peary's own statement that he observed no tracks of animals +beyond the 88th parallel. Thus Peary corroborated Cook by +the very absence of animal life in the very region where Cook +states he saw no land.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Peary's Statements Prove Cook's</span></h3> + +<p>On Peary's return journey he states that as they approached +Grant Land the fresh tracks of foxes and other evidences +of animal life were very numerous. And if the nearness +of land was evidenced in this case it is also clear that the tracks +and appearance of animals on his journey in the high latitudes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_592" id="Page_592">[Pg 592]</a></span> +should be given equal weight as evidence of the lands discovered +by Cook.</p> + +<p>The line of deep sea soundings taken by Peary from Cape +Columbia northward indicates a steady increase in depth to +latitude 84° 24ʹ, where the lead touched bottom at eight hundred +and twenty-five fathoms, until, in latitude 85° 23ʹ, the +sounding showed a depth of but three hundred and ten fathoms. +Referring to this, we find that Peary says, on page 338 of his +narrative: "This diminution in depth is a fact of considerable +interest in reference to the possible existence of land to the +westward."</p> + +<p>It seems to me that it is not impertinent to remark that this +land to the westward was scarcely two sleeps distant, as Dr. +Cook has steadfastly maintained. Finally, on page 346, Peary +says: "Taking various facts into consideration it would seem +that an obstruction (lands, islands or shoals) containing nearly +half a million square statute miles probably exists, and another +at or near Crocker Land."</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">More Accurate Observations by Cook Than by Peary</span></h3> + +<p>And this is all that Dr. Cook claims in his location of land +to the northward of the very Crocker Land to which Peary +alludes.</p> + +<p>As to Dr. Cook's and Peary's observations when in the +immediate vicinity of the Pole, I would call attention to the +following facts: Cook's determination by the sextant of the +sun's altitude was made April 21, 1908; Peary's final observations +were taken April 7 of the following year. The sun being +thus two weeks higher at the time Cook made his observations, +he was able to secure a more accurate series of altitudes, and +this will have an important bearing in substantiation of his +claims.</p> + +<p>Considering the difficulty which Peary has had in proving +whether he was at 1.6 miles from the Pole on the Grant Land +side or the Bering Strait side, and whether he was ten or fifteen +miles away, I think Dr. Cook was justified in saying that, al<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_593" id="Page_593">[Pg 593]</a></span>though +he believed he was at the North Pole, he is not claiming +that he had been exactly at the pin-point of the North Pole. +At any rate, it places Dr. Cook in the position of endeavoring +to tell the truth.</p> + +<p>In this connection I feel like replying to a criticism which +Mr. Grosvenor, editor of the National Geographic Magazine, +published over his own signature immediately following Dr. +Cook's return from the Pole. "Cook's story reads like that of a +man who had filled his head with the contents of a few books on +polar expeditions and especially the writings of Sverdrup."</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Armchair Criticisms Unfair</span></h3> + +<p>Now, since Sverdrup is a real navigator, having accompanied +Nansen during his three years' drift on the Fram, and, +following this, having himself organized and led an expedition +during three years to the westward of Grinnell Land, in the +course of which he discovered and charted, in 1902, Heiberg +Land and contiguous islands (which, however, Peary charted +four years later and named Jessup Land), I do not consider +Mr. Grosvenor's armchair criticism of the writings of Capt. +Sverdrup and of Dr. Cook quite in keeping with the principles +of a square deal and fair play.</p> + +<p>Among the reasons which Peary assigns for doubting +Dr. Cook is one pertaining to the original records which Dr. +Cook unwillingly left at Etah. The leaving behind of these +papers, according to Peary, was merely a scheme on Cook's +part, so that he might claim they had been lost or destroyed +and thus escape being forced to produce them in substantiation +of his claim. Recently, when I asked Dr. Cook about this, his +reply was: "This does not sound very manly. If this was +so in Peary's belief, why did he not bring them back? Here +was absolute proof in his own hands. Why did he bury it?"</p> + +<p>Armchair geographers and renegades may endeavor to +discredit Dr. Cook, but the seals and polar bears and little foxes +will bear testimony of unimpeachable character to substantiate +his claims as the discoverer of the North Pole. The reading<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_594" id="Page_594">[Pg 594]</a></span> +public will not forget that when Paul Du Chaillu, returning +from his expedition to Africa, reported the discovery of the +pigmies, he was denounced as a faker and a liar. For three +years Du Chaillu, as he has told me himself, sought in vain to re-establish +his credibility, and when at the end of that time he +succeeded in bringing some of the pigmies and exhibiting them +before the scientific bodies of the world, then the "doubting +Thomases" were obliged to give him credit as the discoverer of +the African dwarfs. The yellow press and sensation mongers +will decry Dr. Cook as they did Du Chaillu, for some years to +come, but Arctic explorers endorse him to-day.</p> + +<p>Rear Admiral W. S. Schley, General A. W. Greely, Captain +Otto Sverdrup, Captain Roald Amundsen, and all the +world's greatest explorers have indorsed Dr. Cook.</p> + +<p>I have seen Dr. Cook's original field notes, his observations, +and the important chapters of his book, wherein his claim +is presented in such a way that the scientific world must accept +it as the record and the proof of the greatest geographic accomplishment +of modern times.</p> + +<p>Putting aside the academic and idle argument of pin-point +accuracy—the North Pole has been honestly reached by Dr. +Cook 350 days before anyone else claimed to have been there.</p> + +<p class="ralign">(Signed) <span class="smcap">Evelyn Briggs Baldwin.</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_595" id="Page_595">[Pg 595]</a></span></p> + + +<h2>VERDICT OF THE GEOGRAPHIC HISTORIAN</h2> + +<h4>DR. COOK'S RECORD IS ACCURATE<br /> +IT IS CERTIFIED—IT IS CORROBORATED</h4> + +<h4>HE IS THE DISCOVERER OF<br /> +THE NORTH POLE</h4> + +<h4>By <span class="smcap">Edwin Swift Balch</span></h4> + +<p class="center">(From the N. Y. Tribune, April 14, 1913)</p> + + +<p>Which was it: Cook or Peary? Who discovered the North +Pole? Everybody thought the question had been settled long +ago, but now comes an eminent geographer and explorer, who +says, over his name, that both got to the "Big Nail," and that it +was the Brooklyn doctor who did it first. And in defense of his +belief he cites chapter and verse, and uses Peary's own story +to prove that his hated rival it was who first stood at the top +of the earth, "where every one of the cardinal points is South."</p> + +<p>The intrepid defender of Cook is Edwin Swift Balch, fellow +of the Association for the Advancement of Science, member of +the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, the Franklin +Institute, American Philosophical, American Geographical and +Royal Geographical Societies, writer on arctic, antarctic geographical +and ethnological topics for the learned societies of the +world. Dr. Balch lives at No. 1412 Spruce street, Philadelphia, +and the title of his book, just published by Campion & Co., of +Philadelphia, is "The North Pole and Bradley Land."</p> + + +<h3>"<span class="smcap">All Travellers Called Liars</span>"</h3> + +<p>"From time immemorial travellers have been called liars," +says Mr. Balch in a chapter devoted to "travellers who were +first doubted and afterward vindicated," and it is on this general +assumption of their Munchausen-like proclivities that much of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_596" id="Page_596">[Pg 596]</a></span> +the weight of argument depends. But most of all the truthfulness +of the doctor's assertion that on April 21, 1908, he and his +two Eskimo boys, E-tuk-i-shook and Ah-we-lah, reached the +goal and "were the only pulsating creatures in a dead world of +ice," is shown by the fact that conditions reported by Cook as +existing there were corroborated by Peary.</p> + +<p>"The man who breaks into the unknown may say what +he chooses and present such astronomical observations as he +sees fit," says Mr. Balch, "but his proof rests on his word. But +if the next traveller corroborated the discoverer, instantly the +first man's statements are immeasurably strengthened.</p> + +<p>"To solve such a problem as that of who discovered the +North Pole, this comparative method seems to the writer the +only one available. It is not a matter of belief, it is a matter +of comparison and reasoning. It is not the evidence which Cook +produces <i>which in itself alone could prove Cook's claims</i>. It is +the geographical evidence offered by both Cook and Peary, +which, when carefully compared, affords, in the writer's judgment, +the only means of arriving at a conclusion. It is Peary's +statements and observations which prove, as far as can be proved +at present, Cook's statements."</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">All Discoverers First Doubted</span></h3> + +<p>The writer then mentions a score of the great discoverers +and explorers of history who have been defamed and berated +by their contemporaries, yet whose achievements have in time +proved them to be truth tellers. Marco Polo, "greatest of mediaeval +travellers, was generally discredited." Amerigo Vespucci +"to this day remains under a cloud for things he did not do." +Fernao Mendes Pinto, Nathaniel B. Palmer, Robert Johnson, +James Weddell, von Drygalski, Nordenskjold, Bruce, Charcot, +Dr. Krapf, Dr. Robmann, Du Chaillu, Stanley, Livingstone, +Colter, all have been reviled as fabricators, yet all have been +honored by those who came later, he says.</p> + +<p>"There are three records of Dr. Cook's journey of 1908," +says the writer. "Cook's first announcement was a long cable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_597" id="Page_597">[Pg 597]</a></span>gram +sent from Lerwick, Shetland Islands, and published in the +'New York Herald' of September 2, 1909. The full original +narrative was sent immediately after this and published in the +'New York Herald' between September 15 and October 7, 1909, +with the title 'The Conquest of the Pole.'</p> + +<p>"<i>Both of these were written and sent before Cook could, by +any possibility, have seen or heard of any of the results of Peary's +last expedition.</i></p> + +<p>The third record is Cook's book "My Attainment of the +Pole," which is simply an enlargement on the earlier story.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Cook Must Have Been First</span></h3> + +<p>The point here emphasized is that Cook could not have +had anything on which to base his description of conditions +north of 83:20 north latitude, and as his description agreed with +that later given by Peary, there could be no doubt that Cook +was there first.</p> + +<p>"The reason for this is that these statements can be based +on nothing but Cook's own observations," says Mr. Balch, "for +Cook started for Denmark from South Greenland before Peary +started for Labrador from North Greenland, and therefore everything +Cook stated or wrote or published immediately after his +arrival in Europe must be based on what Cook observed or +experienced himself.</p> + +<p>"<i>Cook's original narrative stands on its own merits; it is the +first and most vital proof of Cook's veracity, and yet it has passed +almost unnoticed.</i></p> + +<p>The points on which the two accounts, Cook's and Peary's, +of conditions at 90 degrees north agree most fundamentally, and +hence most definitely establish the truthfulness of Cook, are +first the "account of the land sighted in 84:20 north to 85:11 +north (Bradley Land). The second is the glacial land ice in +87-88 degrees north. The third is the account of the discovery +of the North Pole and the description of the ice at the North +Pole."</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_598" id="Page_598">[Pg 598]</a></span></p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Cook's Three Achievements</span></h3> + +<p>Cook's first great discovery, the writer holds, was Bradley +Land, named after his friend and backer. This land, Cook +declared, had a great crevasse in it, making it appear like two +islands, the southerly one starting at 84:20 north. Peary made +no mention of land north of 83:20 north.</p> + +<p>"Whether there is land or water in the intervening sixty +geographical miles is a problem," says the writer, "but in order +to be perfectly fair to both explorers and to allow for errors in +observation one might split the difference at 83:50 north and +consider that latitude as a dividing line between the lands discovered +respectively by Cook and Peary."</p> + +<p>"The second important discovery of Cook's is the glacial +land ice in 87 north to 87 north-88 north," says the writer. "A +closely similar occurrence was observed by Peary on his 1906 +trip in about 86 north, 60 west."</p> + +<p>But the most important particular in which the two men +agree, in the mind of Mr. Balch, is in their description of the +ice at the pole. Cook reported that it was "a smooth sheet of +level ice." The writer adds: "if that description of the North +Pole is accurate, the writing of it by Cook, first of all men, on +the face of it is proof that Cook is the discoverer of the North +Pole."</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Snow Was Purple</span></h3> + +<p>But not only was the ice at the pole smooth and level, but +the snow there was "purple" in the story of Cook, a detail in +which he is again borne out by Peary.</p> + +<p>"Purple snow," says the writer, "is a linguistic expression, +an attempt to suggest with words what Frank Wilbert Stokes +has done with paints in his superb pictures of the polar regions. +Hence," he says, "the use of the word 'purple' by Dr. Cook, +who is not a trained artist, proves that he has the eye of an +impressionist painter and that he is an extremely accurate observer +of his surroundings....<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_599" id="Page_599">[Pg 599]</a></span></p> + +<p>That Cook's description is accurate is in the next place +certified to by Peary. Peary corroborates Cook absolutely +about conditions enroute to the North Pole; and Cook is corroborated +by Peary, not only by what Peary saw, but by what +Peary did. If there was anything in the Western Arctic between +the North Pole and 87:47 north but 'an endless field of purple +snows,' smooth and slippery, Peary could not have covered the +intervening 133 geographical miles in two days and a few hours. +Peary, therefore, from observation and from actual physical +performance proves that Cook's most important statement is +true."</p> + +<p>The evidence is thus examined, step by step. The statements +of the two men are compared, word by word, and this is +the conclusion reached:</p> + +<p>"In view of all these facts it becomes certain that Cook +must have written his description of the North Pole from his +own observations, for until Cook actually traversed the Western +Arctic between 88 degrees north and the North Pole, and told +the world the facts, no one could have said whether in that area +there was land or sea, nor have stated anything of the conditions +of its ice, with its unusual, perhaps unique, flat surface.</p> + +<p>"But Cook, in his first cable dispatch, stated definitely and +positively and finally that at the North Pole there was no land, +but sea, frozen over into smooth ice, and Peary confirmed Cook's +statements.</p> + +<p>"Cook was accurate, and the only possible inference is that +Cook was accurate because Cook knew; and the further inevitable +conclusion is that since Cook knew, Cook had been at the North +Pole."</p> + +<p>(<i>Ed.</i>) In personal letters Balch further says, "I have tried +to look at it as if this were the year 2013, and all of us in heaven.... +It is only a question of time till Dr. Cook is recognized +as the discoverer of the North Pole."</p> + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_600" id="Page_600">[Pg 600]</a></span></p> + + +<h2>FOR A NATIONAL INVESTIGATION<br /> + +<br />A REQUEST</h2> + +<h4>By <span class="smcap">Dr. Frederick A. Cook</span></h4> + + +<p>For three years I have sought in various ways to bring about +a National investigation of the relative merits of the Polar Attainment +and the unjust propaganda of distrust which followed. +Such an investigation would do no harm if the original work and +the later criticism has been done in good faith. Why has it +been refused? To take the ground that it is a private matter +and that the Government has taken no official part in the Polar +race is to assume a false position. The injustice of this evasive +policy is brought out in my telegram to former President Taft—and +again in my letter to President Wilson. To compel such +an investigation and to appoint Arctic explorers as National +experts has been my main mission on the platform. Much +against my will I have been forced to adopt the usual political +tactics of getting to the voters to force action by Congress and +the official circles of Washington.</p> + +<p>When in 1911 the bill was introduced in Congress to retire +Peary as a Rear Admiral with a pension, I supposed that this +would automatically bring about a thorough scientific examination +of the merits of the rival Polar claims. And such an investigation +I then believed would surely bring about the only reward +I have ever claimed—The appreciation of my fellow countrymen. +It was however, as I learned later, a bold Pro-Peary movement +fostered by lobbyists whose conscience was eased by drippings +from the Hubbard-Bridgeman Arctic Trust, but I still believed +that the dictates of National prestige were such that the usual +white-washing and rail-roading process could not be adopted +in a question of such International importance. I did not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_601" id="Page_601">[Pg 601]</a></span> +begrudge Mr. Peary a pension if honest methods were pursued +to adjust the bitterly fought contention in the eyes of the world. +My friends made no protest in Congress. As matters progressed, +however, I saw that such men as Prof. Willis Moore and others +of his kind—men I had previously trusted as honest, really proved +themselves, double-faced, political back-scratchers. Then I +changed my tactics. When one's honor is bartered by thieves +under the guise of friends—and when these thieves are part of a +government from which justice is expected—Then one is bound +to uncover the leprous spots of one's accusers. I am glad to +note that Prof. Moore, the President of the National Geographic +Society, has since been exposed as being too crooked to fit into +a berth of the present administration. There are others whose +long fingers have been in the Polar-pie who will also meet their +fate as time exposes their flat-heads.</p> + +<p>To call a halt on this National Humbug where only official +chair-warmers and political crooks served as experts, I sent +the following telegram to former President Taft:</p> + + +<h4>COPY OF TELEGRAM SENT TO +FORMER PRESIDENT TAFT</h4> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<p class="ralign">Omaha, Neb., March 4, 1911</p> + +<p class="noin">The President—The White House,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Washington, D. C.</span></p> + +<p>When you sign the Peary bill you are honoring a man with sin-soiled hands +who has taken money from our innocent school children. A part of this money +I believe was used to make Arctic concubines comfortable. I am ready to produce +others of the same opinion. Thus for twenty years while in the pay of the +navy, supplied with luxuries from the public purse, Peary has enjoyed, apparently +with National consent, the privilege denied the Mormons.</p> + +<p>There are at least two children now in the cheerless north crying for bread +and milk and a father. These are growing witnesses of Peary's leprous character. +Will you endorse it?</p> + +<p>By endorsing Peary you are upholding the cowardly verdict of Chester, +Tittman and Gannett, who bartered their souls to Peary's interests by suppressing +the worthlessness of the material upon which they passed. These men on the +Government pay-roll have stooped to a dishonor that should make all fair-minded +people blush with shame. This underhanded performance calls for an investigation. +Will you close these dark chamber doings to the light of justice?</p> + +<p>In this bill you are honoring one, who in seeking funds for legitimate +exploration, has passed the hat along the line of easy money for twenty years. Much +of this money was in my judgment used to promote a lucrative fur and ivory +trade, while the real effort of getting to the pole was delayed seemingly for commercial +gain. Thus engaged in a propaganda of hypocrisy he stooped to immer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_602" id="Page_602">[Pg 602]</a></span>ality +and dishonor and ultimately when his game of fleecing the public was threatened, +he tried to kill a brother explorer. The stain of at least two other lives is +on this man. This bill covers a page in history against which the spirits of murdered +men cry for redress.</p> + +<p>Peary is covered with the scabs of unmentionable indecency, and for him +your hand is about to put the seal of clean approval upon the dirtiest campaign +of bribery, conspiracy and black-dishonor that the world has ever known.</p> + +<p>If you can close your eyes to this, sign the Peary bill.</p> + +<p class="ralign">(Signed) <span class="smcap">Frederick A. Cook</span></p> + +</div> + +<p>The telegram was received but not acknowledged—the +Peary bill was signed. But the false assumption of Peary's +"Discovery of the Pole" was eliminated from the bill. There is +therefore no National endorsement of Peary; though he was given +an evasive Old Age Pension which the newspapers quoted incorrectly +as an official recognition of Peary's claim to polar priority.</p> + +<p>I now appeal to President Wilson and the present administration +to make some official endeavor to clear our National +emblem of the stain of the envious Polar contention. To that +end I have written the following letter:</p> + +<h4>AN APPEAL TO PRESIDENT WILSON</h4> + +<p class="center">(COPY OF A LETTER)</p> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<p class="ralign">Chicago, May 1, 1913</p> +<p class="noin">Honored Sir:</p> + +<p>I appeal to you to forward a movement which will adjust in the eyes of +the world the contention regarding the rival Polar claims. The American Eagle +has spread its wings of glory over the world's top. It would seem to be a National +duty to determine officially whether there is room for one or two under those +wings.</p> + +<p>The graves of our worthy ancestors are marks in the ascent of the ladder +of latitudes. Hundreds of lives, millions of dollars, have been sacrificed in the +quest of the Pole. The success at last attained has lifted the United States to +the first ranks as a Nation of Scientific Pioneers. Every true American has +quivered with an extra thrill of pride with the knowledge that the unknown boreal +center has been pierced and that the stars and stripes have been put to the virgin +breezes of the North Pole. The unjustified and ungracious controversy which +followed has wounded our National honor; it has left a stain upon our flag. Is it +not, therefore, our duty as a Nation to dispel the cloud of contention resting over +the glory of Polar attainment?</p> + +<p>I have given twenty years to the life-sapping task of Polar exploration—all +without pay—all for the benefit of future man. Returning—asking for nothing, +expecting only brotherly appreciation of my fellow countrymen, I am compelled +to face an unjust battle of political intrigues by men in the pay of the Government. +My effort now is not for money nor for a pension, but to defend my honor and +that of my family. The future of my children demands an exposition of the +unfair methods of the arm-chair geographers in Washington. However, I do +not ask the administration to defend me or my posterity, but do ask that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_603" id="Page_603">[Pg 603]</a></span> +men who draw a salary from the National treasury be made answerable for a +propaganda of character assassination, among these is Prof. Willis Moore and +others of the so-called National Geographic Society.</p> + +<p>The National Geographic Society with Prof. Moore as President is responsible +for the false interpretation of the rival Polar claims. This society is a private +organization used mostly for political purposes; for two dollars per year a college +professor or a street-sweeper becomes with equal facility a "national geographer." +It is, therefore, not "national" nor "geographic," and when this society poses as +a scientific body, it is an imposition upon American intelligence, and yet it is this +society, with the well-known political trickery of Prof. Moore, which has attempted +to decide for the world the merits of Polar attainment. An investigation of the +wrong doings of this society will quickly bring to light the injustice of the Polar +controversy.</p> + +<p>A commission of Polar explorers appointed by National authority will +end for all times the problem of the rival Polar claims. There is an abundance +of material on both sides by which such a commission could come to a reasonable +conclusion. The general impression that the Polar contention has been scientifically +determined is not true. There has been no real investigation into either +claim. Such an investigation could only be made by Arctic explorers, and to +bring about this end I would suggest the appointment of an International Commission +of such men as General A. W. Greely, U. S. A., Captain Otto Sverdrup +of Norway and Professor Georges Lecointe of Belgium. Their decision would +be accepted everywhere. Greely and Sverdrup have each spent four years in +the very region under discussion, and Lecointe is the Secretary of the International +Bureau for Polar Research and also director of the Royal Observatory of Belgium. +Such men will render a decision free from personal bias, free from National prejudice +and their verdict will be accepted by the Nations of the world.</p> + +<p>Though I am an interested party I insist that my appeal is not altogether +a personal one. In the interest of that deep-seated American sense of fair play, +in the interest of National honor, in the interest of the glory of our flag, it would +seem to be a National duty to have the distrust of the Polar attainment cleared +by an International commission.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span style="margin-right: 5em;">Respectfully submitted,</span><br /> +(Signed) <span class="smcap">Frederick A. Cook</span></p> + +<p class="noin"> +To the President,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The White House,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Washington, D. C.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p>Thousands of requests similar to those reproduced below +have gone to various officials in Washington. Such appeals +demand action.</p> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<p class="ralign">Chicago, May 7, 1913</p> + +<p class="noin">Mr. Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Washington, D. C.</span></p> + +<p class="noin">Dear Sir:</p> + +<p>Rear Admiral Peary wears the stripes of the Navy, he is drawing a pension +of $6,000.00 per year from the tax-payers—The National dictates of honor compel +such a man to be clean morally—honest and upright officially. Dr. Cook has +publicly made charges against Peary which relegate this Naval Officer to the rank +of a common thief and degenerate. In his book, "My Attainment of the Pole," +(Mitchell-Kennedy, N. Y.) there are specific charges made which call for an +investigation. These charges have remained unanswered for three years—Why?</p> + +<p>In the Polar controversy the flag has been dragged through muck, and this +dishonor seems to rest upon a man for whose actions you are responsible.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_604" id="Page_604">[Pg 604]</a></span></p> +<p>The American people have a right to demand an investigation into the +intrigue of the Peary Polar Propaganda, and as one believing in justice at the +bar of public opinion, I ask that you take steps to clear this cloud in the eyes of +the world.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span style="margin-right: 10em;">Respectfully,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 7em;"><span class="smcap">Fred High</span></span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">Editor of <i>The Platform</i>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 1em;">The Lyceum and Chautauqua Magazine,</span><br /> +Steinway Hall, Chicago.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p class="ralign">Chicago, May 22, 1913.</p> + +<p class="noin">To Congressman James R. Mann,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Washington, D. C.</span></p> + +<p class="noin">Dear Sir:</p> + +<p>The conquest of the North Pole has lifted the United States to a first +position as a Nation of scientific pioneers. The controversy which followed is a +blot on our flag and it is a slur at our National honor. From the Government +purse and from private resources we have spent millions to reach the top of the +earth; it would appear therefore to be our duty as a Nation to adjust the Polar +contention in the eyes of the world.</p> + +<p>If Dr. Cook has reached the Pole, a year earlier than Peary, as most Arctic +explorers believe, then the seeming endorsement and the pension of the Naval +officer is an injustice to Dr. Cook and an imposition on the public; if both have +reached the Pole then there should be a suitable recognition and reward extended +to each. As one of thousands of American citizens, I beg of you to forward a +movement which will bring about a National investigation into this problem, +with a suitable provision for a proper recognition.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span style="margin-right: 10em;">Respectfully,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 5em;">CHARLES W. FERGUSON,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">Pres.,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 2em;">The Chautauqua Managers Association,</span><br /> +Orchestra Bldg., Chicago.</p> + +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_605" id="Page_605">[Pg 605]</a></span></p> + + +<h2>CAN THE GOVERNMENT ESCAPE THE +RESPONSIBILITY?</h2> + +<h4><span class="smcap">By Fred High</span></h4> + + +<p>While the Danes were royally entertaining Dr. Cook on +September 4th, 1909, telegrams were being showered upon him +by all the world. The King of Sweden sent this message:</p> + +<p class="center">"A BRILLIANT DEED, OF WHICH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE MAY +RIGHTLY BE PROUD."</p> + +<p>The American minister to Denmark made Dr. Cook's visit +state business and joined in the effort to share Cook's honors. +Dr. Cook paused in the midst of all this splendor to cable the following +message to our President:</p> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<p class="ralign">Copenhagen, Sept. 4, 1909.</p> + +<p class="noin">President,<br /> + The White House, Washington.</p> + +<p>I have the honor to report to the chief magistrate of the United States +that I have returned, having reached the North Pole."</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p>To which President Taft cabled the following reply:</p> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<p class="ralign">Beverly, Mass., Sept. 4, 1909.</p> + +<p class="noin">Frederick A. Cook,<br /> + Copenhagen, Denmark.</p> + +<p>Your dispatch received. Your report that you have reached the North +Pole calls for my heartiest congratulations, and stirs the pride of all Americans +that this feat which has so long baffled the world has been accomplished by the +intelligent energy and wonderful endurance of a fellow countryman."</p> + +<p class="ralign"><span class="smcap">William H. Taft.</span></p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p>Was President Taft speaking for the American people when +he called Dr. Cook's achievement the pride of all Americans? +Were we ready to share Cook's joys? Share his honors? If so, +then in all fairness, should we not share in his trials and tribulations? +Are we like the crazy base ball fan who cheers a pitching +hero when he wins and insults him with all kinds of vile epithets +when he loses?</p> + +<p>For one I shared in that thrill of pride and was glad to know +that I had had dealings with Dr. Cook before he went in search +of the Pole, consequently, I felt in honor bound to withhold any +hasty criticisms that I might feel tempted to hurl at Dr. Cook. +All who joined in his praises should insist upon it that he be given +a chance to disprove every charge that has been brought against +him, that he be given a chance to explain his every act before<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_606" id="Page_606">[Pg 606]</a></span> +we join in the cry to crucify him. "Crucify him, or give us the +most contemptible coward, moral leper and political crook that +has lived in our time," if Dr. Cook's charges are true.</p> + +<p>Believing that this is a matter that ought to be fairly settled +by competent and orderly methods, I have written to several +congressmen and senators, and the following correspondence +speaks for itself:</p> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<p class="ralign">Chicago, Illinois, May 7, 1913.</p> + +<p class="noin">Hon. Wooda N. Carr,<br /> + Washington, D. C.</p> + +<p class="noin">Dear Sir:</p> + +<p>I wish to ask a personal favor of you, one that I think the public is interested +in and one that I think the world ought to know more about. It is the +Cook-Peary controversy. I have given this considerable thought and study. +I have heard Dr. Cook lecture a number of times and have talked to him personally +and tried to find out from every angle the facts as to whether or not his story +is true. So far I have been unable to find a flaw in any of his statements, and Mr. +Peary by his actions has given every evidence that Dr. Cook is telling the truth. +Therefore, as a citizen who is interested in the larger affairs of this country, and +as the editor of The Platform, which is devoted to the Lyceum and Chautauqua +movement, I am asking whether or not it would be compatible with fair play and +our sense of justice and real national dignity to take this controversy out of the +hands of individuals and settle it by an official tribunal, or by a commission of +arctic explorers.</p> + +<p>I shall be very glad, indeed, if you will inform me of what steps could best +be taken to bring about the settlement of this controversy. If there are any +authoritative facts developed along this line, I will be glad to know where to +locate them as my sole object is to learn the truth.</p> + +<p>Under separate cover I am sending you copy of The Platform which contains +Doctor Cook's letter to President Wilson, which I hope you will read.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">Yours very truly,</span><br /> +(Signed) <span class="smcap">Fred High</span>.<br /> +</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span style="margin-right: 6em;">House of Representatives, U. S.</span><br /> +Washington, D. C., May 13, 1913.</p> + +<p class="noin">Mr. Fred High,<br /> + 602 Steinway Hall,<br /> + Chicago, Ill.</p> + +<p class="noin">Dear Sir: +</p> + +<p>Your letter of the 7th inst., regarding the Cook-Peary controversy, received. +I do not think it would be possible to get Congress to interfere in this +matter. It is a question of little concern to many who discovered the Pole, or +whether it was discovered at all. It seems to be a personal matter, the settlement +of which should be determined by the persons interested.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span style="margin-right: 5em;">Very truly yours,</span><br /> +(Signed) <span class="smcap">Wooda N. Carr</span>.<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p>Is it a matter of no concern whether or not the North Pole +has been discovered? Is it a matter of no concern whether a man +can fake a story about having discovered the North Pole, receive +the homage of the world, fleece the American public out of thousands +of dollars for fees to hear his lecture and go unpunished? +If Dr. Cook has hoaxed the world as so many have charged him +with having done, this is more than a private matter.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_607" id="Page_607">[Pg 607]</a></span></p> + +<p>If Dr. Cook has discovered the North Pole, are we acting +the part of fellow countrymen by shirking our duty? Shall Congress +say that the clique at Washington either make good its +charges against Dr. Cook, or be made to retract and stand disgraced +in the eyes of the world? We shared Cook's honors. +Will we shirk when he calls upon his countrymen for a square +deal?</p> + +<p>The following letter was received from Senator Miles +Poindexter and should be carefully studied:</p> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<p class="center">United States Senate, Committee on Expenditures in the War Department.</p> + +<p class="ralign">Washington, D. C. May 9, 1913.</p> + +<p class="noin">Mr. Fred High, Editor,<br /> + The Platform, 602 Steinway Hall,<br /> + 64 E. Van Buren St.,<br /> + Chicago, Illinois.</p> + +<p class="noin">My dear Mr. High:</p> + +<p>I have yours of 7th inst., and was very much pleased to know that you are +interested in securing a fair examination, officially if possible, into Dr. Cook's +claims of discovery.</p> + +<p>Ever since the Cook-Peary controversy began, I have paid more or less +close attention to the questions involved therein. I have talked with a number +of residents around the neighborhood of Mt. McKinley, Alaska, some of whom +are friendly and some unfriendly to Dr. Cook; have read with great care Dr. +Cook's book describing his polar expedition; and have followed through the newspapers +and otherwise the various phases of the controversy and happenings in +connection therewith. As a lawyer, I have always been especially interested in +the study of the credibility of witnesses, the weight of evidence; and in deducing +logical conclusions therefrom. From the careful consideration of the comparative +character of the witnesses for and against Dr. Cook, their motives, and the attitude +and hearing throughout the controversy of Cook and Peary themselves, I +have a very fixed and firm conviction that Dr. Cook's story is true. I believe +the majority of the people of the country who are interested in the subject are +of the same opinion.</p> + +<p>From my observation of the miserable petty cliques and factional squabbles +in official circles of the Government, such for instance as the Sampson-Schley +controversy and innumerable smaller disputes, I have long ago ceased to accept, +as necessarily correct, official evidence merely because it is official.</p> + +<p>I have not yet seen a copy of The Platform containing Dr. Cook's letter +to President Wilson which you say you are forwarding me under separate cover, +and when received will read it with much interest. Not having read it, I do not +know just what plan Dr. Cook proposes for an official investigation. I will be glad +however, to learn the basis upon which it is proposed to make the test an official +investigation. It occurs to me that it is entirely a private matter and that the +Government officially has nothing to do with it. Every man has as much right +as any other man to form a conclusion in the case; public opinion, if the facts +can be presented to the public, is the best judgment. I would be apprehensive of +submitting the absolute determination of the question to an official tribunal for +the reasons, among others, which I have mentioned above. However, will be +glad to learn further as stated of the proposal.</p> + +<p>With kind regards.</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span style="margin-right: 7em;">Very truly yours,</span><br /> +(Signed) <span class="smcap">Miles Poindexter.</span></p> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_608" id="Page_608">[Pg 608]</a></span></p> + +<p>Senator Poindexter's letter is a stricture on official Washington +that ought to cause every true patriot to blush with shame. +Are we at the point where even an impartial investigation can +not be had into the controversy as to who discovered the North +Pole?</p> + +<p>There are thousands who believe this is a question that +touches our national honor and therefore is a rightful subject for +a Congressional Investigation. Those who believe this, ought +to write to their representatives at Washington and urge such +action as will lay the facts before the world.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>The following letter from Hon. Champ Clark is worthy of +much consideration as it reveals the real status of this controversy +as it exists in official circles.</p> + +<p>Dr. Cook is a private citizen with no Cook Arctic club to +back him and share his gains. No National Geographical Society +helped to finance his venture with the hope of managing his +lectures as a sort of bureau graft. He is a private citizen.</p> + +<p>Speaker Clark's letter furnishes us with the reason for +asking Congress to take a hand in this affair for it shows how +ready our statesmen are to give ear when the people speak:</p> + +<h4>THE SPEAKER'S ROOM<br /> +HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES</h4> + +<h5>WASHINGTON, D. C.</h5> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<p class="ralign">May 10, 1913.</p> + +<p class="noin"> +Mr. Fred High,<br /> + Editor of The Platform,<br /> + Chicago, Illinois. +</p> + +<p class="noin">My dear Mr. High:</p> + +<p>I have your letter touching the Cook-Peary controversy. I note what +you say. I do not see clearly what it is that you are suggesting. That is, whether +you want Congress to formulate some plan to determine the matter by appointing +a commission of Arctic explorers, or exactly what it is that you do want.</p> + +<p>Of course, I do not know very much about Arctic explorations and do not +set a very high store on them as I never could understand what sort of good would +come of locating the North Pole. I am a good deal of a utilitarian, and am a +disciple of the Baconian philosophy rather than of the philosophy of Aristotle +and the Greek school. To tell the truth, I have always had a hazy sort of an +idea that both Cook and Peary discovered the North Pole. I have not valued +my opinion highly enough to undertake to exploit it or to induce anybody else +to believe it as I have enough other matters on hand to employ the time and +attention of one man.</p> + +<p>Wishing you success, I am</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span style="margin-right: 7em;">Your friend,</span><br /> +(Signed) <span class="smcap">Champ Clark</span> +</p> +</div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_609" id="Page_609">[Pg 609]</a></span></p> + +<p>The following opinion of the men on the Chautauqua platform +is attributed to our good friend from Missouri:</p> + +<p class="poem">"The Chautauqua has been a powerful force in +directing the political thought of the country, which is +largely sociological in these latter days. I approve the +Chautauqua lecturers, with whom I have been associated, +because they constitute as fine a group of men +and women as can be found among the splendid citizenship +of America. I have a deep and abiding interest +in them, and bid them a hearty godspeed in their +work."</p> + +<p>Dr. Cook is perhaps the leading Chautauqua lecturer of +the present season. He is now booked to appear at seventy +Chautauquas this Summer and it is certain that even the genial +Speaker of the House wouldn't want to associate with a man +who would hoax the world for gain. Certainly he wouldn't +want "The greatest liar of the Century" to be one of the powerful +forces directing the political thoughts of the Century. If Dr. +Cook discovered the North Pole he should be given the credit +for that great achievement.</p> + +<p>We certainly have a right to see to it that neither Dr. Cook +nor Mr. Peary are treated as though they were the scum of the +earth. Dr. Cook has brought charges against Mr. Peary as a +Naval officer. He still brings these charges, and he should be +made to prove them. Peary, an officer of the Navy, has brought +charges against Cook and he should be made to prove them.</p> + +<p>Mr. Peary is an officer of our navy, drawing an old age pension. +His position is such that he cannot ignore Dr. Cook's open +charges. He is honor bound to protect the good name of this +great country by asking an investigation of these charges. To +remain silent, is to stand to be branded as the arch-degenerate +of our day. Don't forget it was he who opened up the mud batteries +and caused this undignified controversy.</p> + +<p>No honorable man can allow such open charges of gross +immorality as Dr. Cook preferred against Mr. Peary in his telegram +to President Taft. These have been printed in magazines +and newspapers as well as appearing in Dr. Cook's books, now +in the sixtieth thousand edition.</p> + +<p>Here in Illinois press stories of improper conduct implicating +Lieutenant-Governor Barrett O'Hara were circulated and he +immediately asked the state legislature to investigate them. The +legislature appointed a committee that took testimony and reported +these stories were groundless and false.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_610" id="Page_610">[Pg 610]</a></span></p> + +<p>Is a retired Admiral less important in the eyes of the world +than the Lieutenant-Governor of Illinois, or has the "old tar" +taken an immunity bath?</p> + +<p>Are we any farther along than were those who put Columbus in +chains and stoned the Prophets and nailed the Christ to the Cross? +Are we so engrossed in the material things that all questions of +honor are of no concern to us?</p> + +<p>It is true that the bar of public opinion is the court of last +resort in a real democracy, but it is equally true that it is essential +to see that the source of public opinion be not polluted. Should +our school children be taught that Peary discovered the Pole if +Dr. Cook was there first?</p> + +<p>Senator Robert M. LaFollette says: "You can't buy, +you can't subsidize the Lyceum. At least, it never has been +done. The Press has been subsidized. Papers and magazines +which were printing the bad records of public officials and political +parties have, in many instances, been forced out of the field or +silenced. Special privilege organized as a System has its own +press.</p> + +<p>But the Lyceum platform is free. Really, I sometimes +think that, from the days of Wendell Phillips to now, the Lyceum +has pretty nearly been the salvation of the country."</p> + +<p>The Lyceum and the Chautauqua have given Dr. Cook a +fair hearing, and it is now a matter of National pride that when +the press was silent or hostile, Congress indifferent, the Chautauqua, +the one distinctively American institution, gave him an +honest, impartial hearing.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>I write as I do because, being the editor of The Lyceum and +Chautauqua Magazine, I have tried to give Dr. Cook the same +opportunity to present his case as I would expect him to do by +me were I in his place and he in mine.</p> + +<p>AFTER YOU HAVE READ THIS BOOK KINDLY WRITE +YOUR CONGRESSMAN CALLING FOR AN INVESTIGATION.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<h2>INDEX</h2> + + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<p class="noin"> +Acpohon, Trail Along, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"The Land of Guillemots," <a href="#Page_191">191</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Acponie Island, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> +<br /> +Adams, Captain, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Peary Suppressed Letter Presented by, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>, <a href="#Page_487">487</a>, <a href="#Page_489">489</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Advance Bay, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /> +<br /> +Ah-tah, Turns Away Ma-nee, <a href="#Page_58">58</a><br /> +<br /> +Ah-we-lah, Told Bartlett That Observations Were Made, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chosen for Dash to Pole, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sure of Nearness of Land, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prevents Boat From Sinking, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Recounts Remarkable Journey to the Pole, <a href="#Page_452">452</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ahwynet, <a href="#Page_96">96</a><br /> +<br /> +Alaskan Wilds, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +<br /> +Alexander, Cape, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a><br /> +<br /> +Al-leek-ah, <a href="#Page_95">95</a><br /> +<br /> +American Legation, <a href="#Page_469">469</a><br /> +<br /> +Amund Ringnes Land, <a href="#Page_329">329</a><br /> +<br /> +Anderson, Mr., <a href="#Page_460">460</a><br /> +<br /> +Annoatok, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Supplies Stored at, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Started for, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">First Day at, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Erected a House of Packing Boxes at, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>, <a href="#Page_437">437</a>, <a href="#Page_442">442</a>, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>, <a href="#Page_447">447</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>, <a href="#Page_456">456</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Antarctic Exploration, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br /> +<br /> +Arctic, Bradley, Expedition, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> +<br /> +Arctic Circle Crossed, <a href="#Page_34">34</a><br /> +<br /> +Armbruster, Professor W. F., Defense of Dr. Cook by, <a href="#Page_490">490</a><br /> +<br /> +Armour of Chicago, Food Supplies by, <a href="#Page_135">135</a><br /> +<br /> +Arthur Land, <a href="#Page_191">191</a><br /> +<br /> +Ashton, J. M., <a href="#Page_526">526</a>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +Astrup, Eivind, Death of, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a>, <a href="#Page_560">560</a><br /> +<br /> +Atholl, Cape, Sailed Around, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Auckland, Cape, <a href="#Page_60">60</a><br /> +<br /> +Auks, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> +<br /> +Auroras, <a href="#Page_112">112</a><br /> +<br /> +Axel Heiberg Land, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Bache Peninsula, Headed for, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_435">435</a><br /> +<br /> +Baffin's Bay, <a href="#Page_362">362</a><br /> +<br /> +Baldwin, Captain Evelyn B., <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>, <a href="#Page_564">564</a><br /> +<br /> +Baldwin-Zeigler, Cache of Supplies Left by, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br /> +<br /> +Bancroft Bay, <a href="#Page_103">103</a><br /> +<br /> +Bangor, <a href="#Page_483">483</a><br /> +<br /> +Barrill Affidavit, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_522">522</a>, <a href="#Page_523">523</a>, <a href="#Page_524">524</a><br /> +<br /> +Bartlett, Capt. Robt. A., Learns from Eskimos That Observations Were Made, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Assisted Peary in His Lies, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>, <a href="#Page_562">562</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bathurst Land, <a href="#Page_337">337</a><br /> +<br /> +Battle Harbor, Arrival at, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Questions Prepared by Peary at, <a href="#Page_483">483</a>, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>, <a href="#Page_557">557</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bay, Baffin's, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bancroft, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Braebugten, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Buchanan, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cannon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dallas, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Flagler, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Melville, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Entered, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">North Star, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anchored in, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Olrick's, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pioneer, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Robertson, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sontag, <a href="#Page_451">451</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bay Fiord, Overland to, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a><br /> +<br /> +Bear Hunting, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a><br /> +<br /> +Belcher Point, Passed, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a><br /> +<br /> +Belgian Antarctic Expedition, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a><br /> +<br /> +Belle Isle, Straits of, Entering, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +Bennett, James Gordon, Cable to, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Selling Narrative Story to, <a href="#Page_491">491</a>, <a href="#Page_492">492</a>, <a href="#Page_493">493</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bernier, Captain, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>, <a href="#Page_516">516</a><br /> +<br /> +Berri, Herbert, <a href="#Page_502">502</a><br /> +<br /> +Berry, Robert M., <a href="#Page_478">478</a><br /> +<br /> +"Big Lead," Peary's Eskimos Become Panic-Stricken at, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dr. Cook Reaches the Shores of, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crossing the, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></span><br /> +<br /> +"Big Nail," <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a><br /> +<br /> +Blethen, J., <a href="#Page_527">527</a><br /> +<br /> +Bonsall Island, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /> +<br /> +Booth Sound, <a href="#Page_453">453</a><br /> +<br /> +Borup, George, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, <a href="#Page_486">486</a><br /> +<br /> +Bradley, John R., Compact Made for Expedition, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Expedition, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Join Party, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Called to Action, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Assumed Direction, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shoots Duck, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_537">537</a></span><br /> +<br /> +"<i>Bradley, John R.</i>," S. S., Sailed July 3, 1907, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Going Northward, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aboard the, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sailing Qualities of the, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bradley Land, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Positive Proof of, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Braebugten Bay, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a><br /> +<br /> +Breton, Cape, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br /> +<br /> +Bridgeford, <a href="#Page_527">527</a><br /> +<br /> +Bridgman, Herbert L., Kitchen Explorer, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_502">502</a>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a>, <a href="#Page_557">557</a><br /> +<br /> +Bridges, Thomas, Yahgan Dictionary, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>, <a href="#Page_498">498</a><br /> +<br /> +Brooklyn Dairy Business, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> +<br /> +Brooke's Island, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /> +<br /> +Brown, Belmore, <a href="#Page_524">524</a><br /> +<br /> +Buchanan Bay, <a href="#Page_77">77</a><br /> +<br /> +Bushwick Club, <a href="#Page_481">481</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Cairn Point, Passed, <a href="#Page_68">68</a><br /> +<br /> +Camped for the Winter, <a href="#Page_393">393</a><br /> +<br /> +Cannon Bay, <a href="#Page_162">162</a><br /> +<br /> +Cannon Fiord, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br /> +<br /> +Cape Alexander, Passed, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Athol, Sailed Around, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Auckland, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Breton, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clarence, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Faraday, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hatherton, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Inglefield, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Isabella, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Louis Napoleon, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Paget, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Parry, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Robertson, Proceeded to, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rutherford, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sabine, Note Left at, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_426">426</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tragedies of, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seiper, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sheridan, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sparbo, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tennyson, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Thomas Hubbard," <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Veile, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vera, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">York, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>, <a href="#Page_455">455</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cardigan Strait, <a href="#Page_350">350</a><br /> +<br /> +Caribou Hunting, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br /> +<br /> +Chester, Rear-Admiral, <a href="#Page_502">502</a>, <a href="#Page_543">543</a>, <a href="#Page_544">544</a><br /> +<br /> +Christiansaand, <a href="#Page_476">476</a><br /> +<br /> +Clarence, Cape, <a href="#Page_429">429</a><br /> +<br /> +Coast and Geodetic Survey, <a href="#Page_488">488</a><br /> +<br /> +Coburg Island, <a href="#Page_428">428</a><br /> +<br /> +Cold, Director, <a href="#Page_477">477</a><br /> +<br /> +Columbus, Christopher, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br /> +<br /> +Conger, Fort, Party Left by Peary to Die of Cold and Hunger at, <a href="#Page_454">454</a><br /> +<br /> +Congress, Investigation of, Admission of Peary Witnesses in, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_547">547</a><br /> +<br /> +Contracts, Book, <a href="#Page_494">494</a><br /> +<br /> +Controversy, Polar, <a href="#Page_5">5</a><br /> +<br /> +Cook, Mrs., <a href="#Page_478">478</a><br /> +<br /> +Copenhagen, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>, <a href="#Page_466">466</a>, <a href="#Page_476">476</a>, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>, <a href="#Page_494">494</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>, <a href="#Page_539">539</a>, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>, <a href="#Page_549">549</a>, <a href="#Page_550">550</a>, <a href="#Page_551">551</a>, <a href="#Page_557">557</a>, <a href="#Page_563">563</a><br /> +<br /> +Copenhagen, University of, <a href="#Page_549">549</a>, <a href="#Page_562">562</a><br /> +<br /> +Cornell University, <a href="#Page_485">485</a><br /> +<br /> +Crocker Land, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>, <a href="#Page_559">559</a><br /> +<br /> +Crown Prince Gustav Sea, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a><br /> +<br /> +Crystal Palace Glacier, <a href="#Page_451">451</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Dahl, Charles, <a href="#Page_456">456</a><br /> +<br /> +Dallas Bay, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br /> +<br /> +Danes, Hospitality of the, <a href="#Page_515">515</a><br /> +<br /> +Danish Literary Expedition, <a href="#Page_453">453</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a><br /> +<br /> +Davis Straits, Entered, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +Dedrick, Dr., Harshly Treated by Peary, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a><br /> +<br /> +De Gerlache, <a href="#Page_134">134</a><br /> +<br /> +"Devil's Thumb," <a href="#Page_456">456</a><br /> +<br /> +Dial Shadow, at the Pole, <a href="#Page_308">308</a><br /> +<br /> +Disco, Island of, Sighted, <a href="#Page_34">34</a><br /> +<br /> +Dundas Island, <a href="#Page_337">337</a><br /> +<br /> +Dunkle, Faked Observations of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_535">535</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Introduced to, <a href="#Page_536">536</a>, <a href="#Page_537">537</a>, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>, <a href="#Page_539">539</a>, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>, <a href="#Page_563">563</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Dunkle-Loose Forgery, Explanation of, <a href="#Page_355">355</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Egan, Dr., <a href="#Page_465">465</a>, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>, <a href="#Page_494">494</a><br /> +<br /> +Eggedesminde, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">First Banquet in Honor of Discovery of the Pole at, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_466">466</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Eidsbotn, Descended to, <a href="#Page_343">343</a><br /> +<br /> +Ellef Ringnes Land, <a href="#Page_329">329</a><br /> +<br /> +Ellesmere Land, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Promised Land, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Elsinore, <a href="#Page_466">466</a><br /> +<br /> +Endor, <a href="#Page_2">2</a><br /> +<br /> +Equipment, Examination of, <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br /> +<br /> +Eric the Red, <a href="#Page_33">33</a><br /> +<br /> +"<i>Erik</i>," S. S., Peary Supply Ship, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>, +<a href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a><br /> +<br /> +Eskimos, Delusions of, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Testimony of, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Married Life Among the, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tents, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bargaining, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Study of Walrus Habits, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Customs Pertaining to Children, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Romance, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Have No Salutation, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Equality of Children and Dogs to the, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prosperity Measured by the Number of Dogs, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Engaged in Request of Reserve Supplies, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Making Clothes, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gloom When the Long Night Begins, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mourning for the Dead, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dancing, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Joy in Killing a Bear, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christmas Festivities, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ice Cream, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Coming of the Stork to the, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Love for Children, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Belief in Shadows, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Show Anxiety, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Questioned by Peary, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Comedies and Tragedies of the, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weird Customs of the, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Describe Trip to Pole, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hostility to Peary, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Put Through the Third Degree by Peary, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Put on Board Peary's Ship Against their Will, <a href="#Page_514">514</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Etah, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Steered for, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Landing Difficult at, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Eskimos Return to, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>, <a href="#Page_558">558</a></span><br /> +<br /> +E-tuk-i-shook, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Told Bartlett That Observations Were Made, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sights Bears, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chosen for Dash to Pole, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sure of Nearness to Land, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kills a Walrus, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Secures a Hare, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">An Adept With a Sling Shot, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Recounts Remarkable Journey to the Pole, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Eureka Sound, Reached, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a><br /> +<br /> +Explorers' Club, <a href="#Page_529">529</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Faraday, Cape, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a><br /> +<br /> +Faroe Islands, <a href="#Page_464">464</a><br /> +<br /> +Fenker, Governor, <a href="#Page_36">36</a><br /> +<br /> +Fiala, Anthony, <a href="#Page_478">478</a>, <a href="#Page_536">536</a><br /> +<br /> +Fiord Umanak, Reached, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bay, Overland to, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Snag's, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cannon, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Musk Ox, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Talbot's, <a href="#Page_429">429</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Floundering in the Open Sea, <a href="#Page_231">231</a><br /> +<br /> +Flagler Bay, Advance Supplies Sent to, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a><br /> +<br /> +Foulke Fiord, Entered, <a href="#Page_66">66</a><br /> +<br /> +Fox, Arctic, <a href="#Page_398">398</a><br /> +<br /> +Francke, Rudolph, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Selected as Companion to Dr. Cook, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hunting, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Meat Gathered and Dried in Strips by, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prepared a Feast, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Asked to Join Party, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Remained in Charge of Supplies at Annoatok, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Starving Condition Refused Bread and Coffee by Peary, <a href="#Page_442">442</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Compelled by Peary to Turn Over Furs and Ivory, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>, <a href="#Page_517">517</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Franklin Bay Expedition, Lady, <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br /> +<br /> +Fridtjof Nansen Sound, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Game, Captured, <a href="#Page_100">100</a><br /> +<br /> +Gannett, Henry, <a href="#Page_544">544</a><br /> +<br /> +"Gates of Hades," <a href="#Page_66">66</a><br /> +<br /> +Gilder, Richard Watson, <a href="#Page_112">112</a><br /> +<br /> +Glacier, Crystal Palace, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Humboldt, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Petowik, Sighted, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gloucester, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br /> +<br /> +"<i>Godthaab</i>," S. S., Supply Ship, <a href="#Page_461">461</a><br /> +<br /> +Godhaven, Sheltered in, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a><br /> +<br /> +Goggles, Amber-Colored, Used to Protect the Eyes, <a href="#Page_226">226</a><br /> +<br /> +"Gold Brick," Slurs, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br /> +<br /> +Gore, Professor, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>, <a href="#Page_563">563</a><br /> +<br /> +Gramatan Inn, <a href="#Page_535">535</a><br /> +<br /> +Grand Republic, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>, <a href="#Page_480">480</a><br /> +<br /> +Grant Land, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a><br /> +<br /> +Great Iron Stone, <a href="#Page_513">513</a><br /> +<br /> +Greely Expedition, Camp of, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Peary Throws Discredit Upon the, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Greely, General A. W., <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_544">544</a>, <a href="#Page_560">560</a><br /> +<br /> +Greely River, <a href="#Page_168">168</a><br /> +<br /> +Greenland, Steered for, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Interior, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Grinnell Land, <a href="#Page_191">191</a><br /> +<br /> +Grinnell Peninsula, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a><br /> +<br /> +Grosvenor, Gilbert, <a href="#Page_543">543</a>, <a href="#Page_544">544</a><br /> +<br /> +Gulf, Inglefield, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crossing, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_453">453</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of St. Lawrence, Sailed Over, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gum Drop Story, Explanation of, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Hague Tribunal, The, <a href="#Page_441">441</a><br /> +<br /> +Hampton, Benjamin, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>, <a href="#Page_553">553</a><br /> +<br /> +Hampton's Magazine, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>, <a href="#Page_553">553</a><br /> +<br /> +"<i>Hans Egede</i>," S. S., Sailed on, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>, <a href="#Page_466">466</a>, <a href="#Page_467">467</a><br /> +<br /> +Hansen, Dr. Norman, <a href="#Page_462">462</a><br /> +<br /> +Hares, Arctic, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a><br /> +<br /> +Harry, T. Everett, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>, <a href="#Page_554">554</a><br /> +<br /> +Hassel Sound, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a><br /> +<br /> +Hatherton, Cape, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br /> +<br /> +Hayes, Dr., <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a><br /> +<br /> +Hearst, W. R., Offer From, <a href="#Page_491">491</a><br /> +<br /> +Hell Gate, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Drifting Towards, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Henson, Matthew, Statement of, <a href="#Page_506">506</a>, <a href="#Page_559">559</a><br /> +<br /> +Holland House, Compact Made at, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br /> +<br /> +Holsteinborg, <a href="#Page_32">32</a><br /> +<br /> +"<i>Hope</i>," S. S., <a href="#Page_513">513</a><br /> +<br /> +Hovgaard, Commander, <a href="#Page_468">468</a>, <a href="#Page_472">472</a><br /> +<br /> +"Hubbard, Cape Thomas," <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_489">489</a><br /> +<br /> +Hubbard, General Thomas, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>, <a href="#Page_558">558</a><br /> +<br /> +Humboldt Glacier, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br /> +<br /> +Hunting, Caribou, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bear, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hare, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Musk Ox, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_378">378-392</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Narwhal, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Walrus, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367-373</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the Moonlight, <a href="#Page_114">114-129</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Icarus, <a href="#Page_43">43</a><br /> +<br /> +Ice, Explosion of, <a href="#Page_124">124</a><br /> +<br /> +Iceberg, Adrift on an, <a href="#Page_346">346</a><br /> +<br /> +Iceland, <a href="#Page_464">464</a><br /> +<br /> +Igloo, Building an, <a href="#Page_166">166</a><br /> +<br /> +Ik-wa, the Cruelty of, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a><br /> +<br /> +Inglefield, Cape, <a href="#Page_68">68</a><br /> +<br /> +Inglefield, Gulf, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crossing, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_453">453</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Instruments, Carried on Journey to Pole, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Left With Whitney, <a href="#Page_450">450</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Buried, <a href="#Page_499">499</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Investigation of Peary's So-Called Proofs, <a href="#Page_544">544</a>, <a href="#Page_545">545</a><br /> +<br /> +Isabella Cape, <a href="#Page_428">428</a><br /> +<br /> +Island, Bonsall, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brook's, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Coburg, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Disco, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Littleton, Passing Inside of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dundas, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Faroe, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">North Cornwall, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Saunders, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Schei, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shannon, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shelton, <a href="#Page_478">478</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weyprecht, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Itiblu, Near, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_453">453</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Jensen, Inspector Dougaard, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a><br /> +<br /> +Jesup, Mrs. Morris K., <a href="#Page_514">514</a><br /> +<br /> +Jones Sound, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>, <a href="#Page_396">396</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>, <a href="#Page_426">426</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Kraul, Governor, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>, <a href="#Page_460">460</a>, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a><br /> +<br /> +Kane Basin, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a><br /> +<br /> +Kane, Dr., <a href="#Page_66">66</a><br /> +<br /> +Kanga, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> +<br /> +Karnah, <a href="#Page_60">60</a><br /> +<br /> +Kennedy Channel, <a href="#Page_66">66</a><br /> +<br /> +King Christian Land, <a href="#Page_336">336</a><br /> +<br /> +"King's Guest House," Only Hotel in Greenland, <a href="#Page_462">462</a><br /> +<br /> +"<i>Kite</i>," S. S., <a href="#Page_511">511</a><br /> +<br /> +Kookaan, <a href="#Page_63">63</a><br /> +<br /> +Koo-loo-ting-wah, Leading Man, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Took Instructions to Francke, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Paid by Peary to Abandon Supplies, <a href="#Page_448">448</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ky-un-a, the Death of, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Labrador, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_484">484</a>, <a href="#Page_557">557</a><br /> +<br /> +Lancaster Sound, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_425">425</a><br /> +<br /> +Lands-Lokk, <a href="#Page_195">195</a><br /> +<br /> +Lerwick, Sent First Cable to New York From, <a href="#Page_464">464</a><br /> +<br /> +Lonsdale, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>, <a href="#Page_494">494</a>, <a href="#Page_537">537</a><br /> +<br /> +Loose, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Faked Observations, <a href="#Page_535">535</a>, <a href="#Page_537">537</a>, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>, <a href="#Page_539">539</a>, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>, <a href="#Page_563">563</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Louis Napoleon, Cape, <a href="#Page_435">435</a><br /> +<br /> +Lifeboat Cove, Searched for Relics Along, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br /> +<br /> +Lincoln Land, <a href="#Page_191">191</a><br /> +<br /> +Lincoln Sea, <a href="#Page_214">214</a><br /> +<br /> +Littleton Island, Passing Inside of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +MacDonald, J. A., Describes the Mt. McKinley Ascent, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a>, <a href="#Page_533">533</a><br /> +<br /> +McLaughlin, A. J., <a href="#Page_563">563</a><br /> +<br /> +Ma-nee, the Romance of, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a><br /> +<br /> +Mann, Colonel, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a><br /> +<br /> +Marshal, Colonel, <a href="#Page_527">527</a><br /> +<br /> +Marvin, Ross, the Suspicious Death of, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letters Suppressed, <a href="#Page_488">488</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Matin</i>, Paris, offer $50,000, <a href="#Page_494">494</a><br /> +<br /> +McMillan, Makes False Statements, <a href="#Page_484">484</a><br /> +<br /> +"<i>Melchior</i>," S. S., <a href="#Page_476">476</a><br /> +<br /> +Melville, Admiral, <a href="#Page_502">502</a><br /> +<br /> +Melville Bay, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Entered, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_455">455</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Meteorite, "Star Stone," Stolen by Peary, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>, <a href="#Page_512">512</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Mirror</i>, St. Louis, the Only Paper to Grant Space to Uncover the Unfair Methods of the Pro-Peary Conspiracy, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>, <a href="#Page_491">491</a>, <a href="#Page_492">492</a><br /> +<br /> +Mitchell, Roscoe, <a href="#Page_525">525</a>, <a href="#Page_527">527</a><br /> +<br /> +"<i>Morning</i>," S. S., <a href="#Page_458">458</a><br /> +<br /> +Mountain, Table, "Oomanaq," <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Mt. McKinley, Affidavit, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scaled, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_522">522</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Description of ascent, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>, <a href="#Page_535">535</a>, <a href="#Page_541">541</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Murchison Sound, <a href="#Page_453">453</a><br /> +<br /> +Museum of Natural History, <a href="#Page_513">513</a><br /> +<br /> +Musk Ox Fiord, <a href="#Page_343">343</a><br /> +<br /> +Musk Ox Hunting, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_387">387</a><br /> +<br /> +My-ah, Disposes of Wives to Gain Dogs, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Direct Hunting, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mylius Erickson, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_453">453</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Nansen, introduced the Kayak, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_495">495</a><br /> +<br /> +Nansen Sound, Through, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br /> +<br /> +Nansen Straits, <a href="#Page_77">77</a><br /> +<br /> +Narwhal Hunt, Description of, <a href="#Page_87">87</a><br /> +<br /> +Naval Committee, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br /> +<br /> +National Geographic Society, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>, <a href="#Page_541">541</a>, <a href="#Page_542">542</a>, <a href="#Page_544">544</a>, <a href="#Page_549">549</a>, <a href="#Page_561">561</a>, <a href="#Page_564">564</a><br /> +<br /> +Needles, Eskimo, How They are Made, <a href="#Page_91">91</a><br /> +<br /> +Newfoundland Boats, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +New York <i>Globe</i>, <a href="#Page_528">528</a><br /> +<br /> +New York <i>Herald</i>, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>, <a href="#Page_493">493</a>, <a href="#Page_527">527</a>, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>, <a href="#Page_557">557</a><br /> +<br /> +New York <i>Times</i>, Published Lying Document, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Peary's Questions Sent to, <a href="#Page_483">483</a>, <a href="#Page_521">521</a>, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>, <a href="#Page_557">557</a>, <a href="#Page_561">561</a>, <a href="#Page_564">564</a></span><br /> +<br /> +New York <i>World</i>, <a href="#Page_506">506</a><br /> +<br /> +New York, University of, Graduated From, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> +<br /> +Nordenskjold, <a href="#Page_495">495</a><br /> +<br /> +Nordenskjold, Expedition, <a href="#Page_468">468</a><br /> +<br /> +Nordenskjold System Borrowed by Peary, <a href="#Page_511">511</a><br /> +<br /> +North Cornwall Island, <a href="#Page_336">336</a><br /> +<br /> +North Devon, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>, <a href="#Page_396">396</a>, <a href="#Page_423">423</a><br /> +<br /> +North Lincoln, <a href="#Page_406">406</a><br /> +<br /> +North Pole, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>, <a href="#Page_557">557</a><br /> +<br /> +North Star Bay, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anchored in, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Norwegian Bay, <a href="#Page_336">336</a><br /> +<br /> +Nuerke, <a href="#Page_447">447</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>, <a href="#Page_453">453</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Observations, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a><br /> +<br /> +Olafsen, Professor, <a href="#Page_472">472</a><br /> +<br /> +Olrik's Bay, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a><br /> +<br /> +"Oomanaq," Table Mountain, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Oomanooi, Village of, Visited, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_453">453</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Oscar II</i>, S. S., Sailed on to New York, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>, <a href="#Page_476">476</a>, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>, <a href="#Page_494">494</a>, <a href="#Page_495">495</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Paget, Cape, <a href="#Page_428">428</a><br /> +<br /> +Palatine Hotel, <a href="#Page_554">554</a><br /> +<br /> +Parker, Professor Herschell, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_523">523</a>, <a href="#Page_524">524</a><br /> +<br /> +Parry, Cape, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> +<br /> +Peary, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>, <a href="#Page_438">438</a>, <a href="#Page_439">439</a>, <a href="#Page_440">440</a>, <a href="#Page_441">441</a>, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>, <a href="#Page_444">444</a>, <a href="#Page_447">447</a>, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>, <a href="#Page_483">483</a>, <a href="#Page_484">484</a>, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, <a href="#Page_487">487</a>, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>, <a href="#Page_491">491</a>, <a href="#Page_492">492</a>, <a href="#Page_493">493</a>, <a href="#Page_496">496</a>, <a href="#Page_499">499</a>, <a href="#Page_500">500</a>, <a href="#Page_501">501</a>, <a href="#Page_502">502</a>, <a href="#Page_505">505</a>, <a href="#Page_506">506</a>, <a href="#Page_507">507</a>, <a href="#Page_508">508</a>, <a href="#Page_509">509</a>, <a href="#Page_510">510</a>, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>, <a href="#Page_512">512</a>, <a href="#Page_513">513</a>, <a href="#Page_514">514</a>, <a href="#Page_516">516</a>, <a href="#Page_517">517</a>, <a href="#Page_518">518</a>, <a href="#Page_519">519</a>, <a href="#Page_527">527</a>, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a>, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>, <a href="#Page_542">542</a>, <a href="#Page_543">543</a>, <a href="#Page_544">544</a>, <a href="#Page_545">545</a>, <a href="#Page_557">557</a>, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>, <a href="#Page_565">565</a><br /> +<br /> +Peary, Mrs., <a href="#Page_63">63</a><br /> +<br /> +Pennsylvania R. R. Station (Washington), Casual Examination of Peary's Instruments in, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br /> +<br /> +Penny Strait, <a href="#Page_337">337</a><br /> +<br /> +Petowik Glacier, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> +<br /> +Phoenix Hotel, Stayed at, <a href="#Page_468">468</a><br /> +<br /> +Pioneer Bay, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a><br /> +<br /> +Polar Ethics, Accused of Violating, <a href="#Page_439">439</a><br /> +<br /> +Poe, Edgar Allen, <a href="#Page_140">140</a><br /> +<br /> +"<i>Polaris</i>," S. S., Stranded in Sinking Condition, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br /> +<br /> +Pole, Copy of Note Left in Tube at, <a href="#Page_313">313</a><br /> +<br /> +Pole Star, <a href="#Page_136">136</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Politiken</i>, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>, <a href="#Page_473">473</a><br /> +<br /> +Pond's Inlet, <a href="#Page_425">425</a><br /> +<br /> +Portland, <a href="#Page_560">560</a><br /> +<br /> +Press, Injustice of the, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /> +<br /> +Printz, F., <a href="#Page_525">525</a><br /> +<br /> +Proofs, Peary's Demands for, <a href="#Page_547">547</a>, <a href="#Page_548">548</a>, <a href="#Page_549">549</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Quebec, <a href="#Page_553">553</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Rassmussen, Knud, Lived Among Eskimos, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Heard Story From Eskimos of Finding the "Big Nail," <a href="#Page_462">462</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Foretold Return of Peary and Prophesied Discord, <a href="#Page_463">463</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Rensselaer Harbor, <a href="#Page_101">101</a><br /> +<br /> +Rice Strait, Through, <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br /> +<br /> +Roberts, Mr., <a href="#Page_548">548</a><br /> +<br /> +Robertson Bay, <a href="#Page_63">63</a><br /> +<br /> +Robertson, Cape, Proceed to, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> +<br /> +Robeson Channel, <a href="#Page_218">218</a><br /> +<br /> +"Robinson Crusoe" Life, <a href="#Page_391">391</a><br /> +<br /> +Rocky Mountains, <a href="#Page_33">33</a><br /> +<br /> +Rood, Henry, <a href="#Page_485">485</a><br /> +<br /> +Roosevelt, Stolen Tusk Presented to, <a href="#Page_443">443</a><br /> +<br /> +"<i>Roosevelt</i>," S. S., <a href="#Page_438">438</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Piratical Career of the, <a href="#Page_444">444</a>, <a href="#Page_447">447</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>, <a href="#Page_484">484</a>, <a href="#Page_557">557</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Route to the Pole, <a href="#Page_285">285</a><br /> +<br /> +Royal Geographical Society, <a href="#Page_472">472</a>, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>, <a href="#Page_475">475</a><br /> +<br /> +Rutherford, Cape, <a href="#Page_159">159</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Sabine, Cape, Notes Left at, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tragedies of, <a href="#Page_426">426</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Saunders Island, <a href="#Page_54">54</a><br /> +<br /> +Schei Land, <a href="#Page_185">185</a><br /> +<br /> +Schley Land, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a><br /> +<br /> +Schley, Rear-Admiral, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_544">544</a>, <a href="#Page_584">584</a><br /> +<br /> +Schley River, <a href="#Page_168">168</a><br /> +<br /> +Schwartz, Dr. Henry, <a href="#Page_490">490</a><br /> +<br /> +Seattle <i>Times</i>, <a href="#Page_527">527</a><br /> +<br /> +Seiper, Cape, <a href="#Page_103">103</a><br /> +<br /> +Ser-wah-ding-wah, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a><br /> +<br /> +Shackleton's Journey to the South Pole, <a href="#Page_458">458</a><br /> +<br /> +Shadows at the Pole, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a><br /> +<br /> +Shainwald, Ralph L., <a href="#Page_469">469</a><br /> +<br /> +Shakespeare, <a href="#Page_140">140</a><br /> +<br /> +Shelter Island, <a href="#Page_478">478</a><br /> +<br /> +Shannon Island, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br /> +<br /> +Sheridan, Cape, <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br /> +<br /> +Schoubye, Captain Henning, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a><br /> +<br /> +Sledges, Making of, <a href="#Page_128">128</a><br /> +<br /> +Smith, Mrs., <a href="#Page_514">514</a><br /> +<br /> +Smith Sound, Entered, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Left, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Snag's Fiord, <a href="#Page_193">193</a><br /> +<br /> +Sontag, Astronomer, Lost Life, <a href="#Page_222">222</a><br /> +<br /> +Sontag Bay, <a href="#Page_451">451</a><br /> +<br /> +Sound, Booth, <a href="#Page_453">453</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Eureka, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fridtjof Nansen, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hassel, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jones, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>, <a href="#Page_396">396</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>, <a href="#Page_426">426</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lancaster, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Murchison, <a href="#Page_453">453</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nansen, Through, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Smith, Entered, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Left, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whale, Entered, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wolstenholm, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Walrus Adventure in, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Sparbo, Cape, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a><br /> +<br /> +Speed Limits, Criticized, <a href="#Page_502">502</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Peary's, <a href="#Page_505">505</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Spitzbergen, <a href="#Page_289">289</a><br /> +<br /> +Squint, Boreal, <a href="#Page_275">275</a><br /> +<br /> +Stanley, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_495">495</a><br /> +<br /> +"Star Stone," <a href="#Page_435">435</a>, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>, <a href="#Page_512">512</a><br /> +<br /> +Stars and Stripes Pinned to the North Pole, <a href="#Page_287">287</a><br /> +<br /> +Stead, William T., <a href="#Page_467">467</a>, <a href="#Page_468">468</a>, <a href="#Page_491">491</a><br /> +<br /> +Steinsby, Professor, <a href="#Page_461">461</a><br /> +<br /> +St. Lawrence, Gulf of, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +St. Louis, Lecture, <a href="#Page_496">496</a><br /> +<br /> +Stockwell, Professor, <a href="#Page_503">503</a><br /> +<br /> +Stokes, Frank Wilbert, <a href="#Page_112">112</a><br /> +<br /> +Straits, Davis, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Belle Isle, Entering, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rice, Through, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vaigat, Passed, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cardigan, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Stromgren, Professor Elis, <a href="#Page_472">472</a>, <a href="#Page_550">550</a><br /> +<br /> +Stork, Visits at Christmas, <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br /> +<br /> +Supplies, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Taken for Journey to Pole, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seized by Peary, <a href="#Page_444">444</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sydney, Harry Whitney, Arrives at, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Journey to, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>, <a href="#Page_561">561</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Svarten Huk, <a href="#Page_38">38</a><br /> +<br /> +Svartevoeg, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Camped South of, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sverdrup, Captain Otto, Exploration of, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mapped Channels by, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Peary Stole the Honor of the Naming of Svartevoeg From, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>, <a href="#Page_516">516</a>, <a href="#Page_560">560</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Table Mountain, "Oomanaq," <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Tacoma, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +Talbot's Fiord, <a href="#Page_429">429</a><br /> +<br /> +Tassuasak, Arrived at, <a href="#Page_456">456</a><br /> +<br /> +Temperature of the Body, <a href="#Page_324">324</a><br /> +<br /> +Tennyson, Cape, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a><br /> +<br /> +"Tent, The," Meteorite, <a href="#Page_513">513</a><br /> +<br /> +Tents, Eskimo, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> +<br /> +Thompsen, Professor, <a href="#Page_461">461</a><br /> +<br /> +"Thumb, The Devil's," <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br /> +<br /> +Tittman, O. H., <a href="#Page_544">544</a><br /> +<br /> +Torp, Professor, <a href="#Page_472">472</a>, <a href="#Page_549">549</a>, <a href="#Page_560">560</a><br /> +<br /> +Townsend, Director, of the New York Aquarium, Falsely Accused Dr. Cook of Stealing a Dictionary Compiled by Thomas Bridges of Indian Words, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>, <a href="#Page_498">498</a><br /> +<br /> +To-ti-o, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Joy in Killing of Bear, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Troy, <a href="#Page_553">553</a><br /> +<br /> +Tung-wing-wah, <a href="#Page_95">95</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Umanak, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a><br /> +<br /> +Umanak Fiord, <a href="#Page_38">38</a><br /> +<br /> +United Steamship Company, <a href="#Page_477">477</a><br /> +<br /> +Upernavik, Island, Appeared, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>, <a href="#Page_461">461</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Vaigat Straits, Passed, <a href="#Page_38">38</a><br /> +<br /> +Veile, Cape, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a><br /> +<br /> +Vera, Cape, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a><br /> +<br /> +Verhoeff, John M., the Death of, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a><br /> +<br /> +Vespucci, Amerigo, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Wack, H. Wellington, <a href="#Page_527">527</a><br /> +<br /> +Waldorf-Astoria, Arrived at, <a href="#Page_481">481</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dinner Given at, <a href="#Page_504">504</a>, <a href="#Page_535">535</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Wallace, Dillon, <a href="#Page_536">536</a><br /> +<br /> +Walrus Hunting, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367-373</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the Moonlight, <a href="#Page_114">114-129</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Whale Sound, Entered, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> +<br /> +Whitney, Harry, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Instruments left with, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_437">437</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ill Treated by Peary's Boatswain Murphy, <a href="#Page_445">445</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Peary Refused Permission to Bring From the North Instruments and Data Left in His Hands, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forced to Bury Instruments, <a href="#Page_499">499</a>, <a href="#Page_558">558</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Weapons, Making, <a href="#Page_381">381</a><br /> +<br /> +Weche, Handelschef, <a href="#Page_461">461</a><br /> +<br /> +Weed, General, <a href="#Page_527">527</a><br /> +<br /> +Wellington, Channel, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a><br /> +<br /> +Weyprecht Island, <a href="#Page_159">159</a><br /> +<br /> +Wolstenholm Sound, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_453">453</a><br /> +<br /> +"Worm Diggers' Union," <a href="#Page_529">529</a><br /> +<br /> +Wyckoff, E. G., <a href="#Page_471">471</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +York, Cape, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>, <a href="#Page_455">455</a><br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<h2>INDEX OF NEW MATERIAL</h2> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<p class="noin"> +Arctic Club of America (<a href="#Page_v">b</a>)<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Balch, Edwin Swift, Article by, <a href="#Page_595">595-599</a> (<a href="#Page_v">b</a>)<br /> +<br /> +Bates, R. C., Credits Mt. McKinley ascent, <a href="#Page_534">534</a> (<a href="#Page_v">b</a>)<br /> +<br /> +Bradley Land, <a href="#Page_597">597-598</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Chautauqua Managers Association, Article by (<a href="#Page_iv">a</a>, <a href="#Page_v">b</a>, <a href="#Page_vi">c</a>)<br /> +<br /> +Caines, Ralph H., Credits Mt. McKinley ascent, <a href="#Page_534">534</a> (<a href="#Page_v">b</a>)<br /> +<br /> +Cook-Peary Controversy, <a href="#Page_606">606</a>, <a href="#Page_607">607</a>, <a href="#Page_608">608</a><br /> +<br /> +Cook Must Have Been First, <a href="#Page_597">597</a><br /> +<br /> +Cook's Three Achievements, <a href="#Page_598">598</a><br /> +<br /> +Carr, Wooda N. Letter to and from, <a href="#Page_606">606</a><br /> +<br /> +Can Government Escape Responsibility, <a href="#Page_605">605</a><br /> +<br /> +Clark, Champ, Letter from, <a href="#Page_608">608</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Danish Geographical Society (<a href="#Page_v">b</a>)<br /> +<br /> +"Discoverer of the Pole," Peary denied title (<a href="#Page_iv">a</a>)<br /> +<br /> +Daniels, Josephus, Card to, <a href="#Page_603">603</a><br /> +<br /> +Discoverers Doubted, <a href="#Page_596">596</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Explorers, Verdicts of, <a href="#Page_584">584</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Geographic Societies, European, Forced to Honor Peary (<a href="#Page_iv">a</a>)<br /> +<br /> +Greely, Gen. A. W., <a href="#Page_603">603</a> (<a href="#Page_v">b</a>)<br /> +<br /> +Glacial Land, Discovery of, <a href="#Page_598">598</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Hubbard-Bridgeman, Arctic Trust, <a href="#Page_600">600</a><br /> +<br /> +Hoax the World, <a href="#Page_606">606</a><br /> +<br /> +High, Fred, Editor of Platform, Article by, <a href="#Page_604">604</a>, <a href="#Page_605">605</a>, <a href="#Page_610">610</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +King of Belgium (<a href="#Page_v">b</a>)<br /> +<br /> +Kill Brother Explorer, Tried to, <a href="#Page_602">602</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Lecointe, Prof. Georges, <a href="#Page_603">603</a><br /> +<br /> +Lyceum and Chautauqua Magazine, <a href="#Page_604">604</a>, <a href="#Page_610">610</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Mann, Congressman James R., Card to, <a href="#Page_604">604</a><br /> +<br /> +Mt. McKinley Expedition, <a href="#Page_534">534</a><br /> +<br /> +Moore, Prof. Willis, <a href="#Page_601">601</a>, <a href="#Page_603">603</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +North Pole, <a href="#Page_595">595</a>, <a href="#Page_604">604</a>, <a href="#Page_606">606</a><br /> +<br /> +National Investigation, Desired by Cook, <a href="#Page_600">600</a><br /> +<br /> +National Geographical Society, <a href="#Page_601">601</a>, <a href="#Page_603">603</a>, (<a href="#Page_iv">a</a>)<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Overland Magazine, Article by R. H. Caines, <a href="#Page_534">534</a><br /> +<br /> +Official Evidence not Necessarily Correct, <a href="#Page_607">607</a><br /> +<br /> +O'Hara, Barrett, <a href="#Page_609">609</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Pension Peary, Old Age, <a href="#Page_602">602</a>, <a href="#Page_603">603</a><br /> +<br /> +Purple Snow, <a href="#Page_598">598</a>, <a href="#Page_599">599</a><br /> +<br /> +Peary's Data proves Cook's, <a href="#Page_596">596</a>, <a href="#Page_597">597</a>, <a href="#Page_599">599</a><br /> +<br /> +Poindexter, Miles, Letter from, <a href="#Page_607">607</a><br /> +<br /> +Petty Cliques in Washington, <a href="#Page_607">607</a><br /> +<br /> +Peary-Parker-Brown Humbug up to date, <a href="#Page_534">534</a><br /> +<br /> +Parker-Brown Mt. McKinley Expedition, <a href="#Page_534">534</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Schley, Rear Admiral W. S. (<a href="#Page_v">b</a>)<br /> +<br /> +Sverdrup, Capt. Otto, <a href="#Page_603">603</a> (<a href="#Page_v">b</a>)<br /> +<br /> +Sampson-Schley Controversy, <a href="#Page_607">607</a><br /> +<br /> +Scientific Pioneers, U. S. first rank, <a href="#Page_602">602</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Tribune, N. Y., Article from, <a href="#Page_595">595</a><br /> +<br /> +Travelers Called Liars, <a href="#Page_595">595</a><br /> +<br /> +Taft, Wm. H., Telegram to, <a href="#Page_606">606</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +University of Copenhagen, Conferred Degree, Ph. D. (<a href="#Page_iv">a</a>, <a href="#Page_v">b</a>)<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Wilson, Woodrow, Letter to, <a href="#Page_602">602</a><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox"> +<h3>OTHER BOOKS BY DR. COOK</h3> + +<p>You have read Dr. Cook's narrative of his expedition to the North Pole. His other +books are of equal interest.</p> + + +<h3>Through the First Antarctic Night</h3> + +<p>A narrative of the Belgian South Pole Expedition of 1897, in charge of Commander +de Gerlache, with Dr. Cook as surgeon.</p> + +<p>This expedition came near sharing the fate of Captain Scott of the English expedition. +Captain Roald Amundsen, discoverer of the South Pole, in speaking to the Press of the +hardships which the members of the Belgica expedition withstood says: "During the +winter scurvy broke out and at the same time several of the party showed signs of mental +trouble. Dr. Cook proved himself a surgeon equal to the situation. All of his patients +recovered. Here I learned to know Dr. Cook and to appreciate him as one of the ablest, +most honest, most reliable men I have ever met. Members of the Belgica expedition owe +their lives to Dr. Cook, as it was through his ingenious plan of sawing the channel through +the pack-ice to open water, thus releasing the ice locked ship, that saved the entire party +from death."</p> + +<p>The above is covered in detail in similar words on pages 19, 20, 23 Volume One of "The +South Pole" a late book by Captain Amundsen. On page 24 of the same volume he says:</p> + +<p>"Upright, honorable, capable and consciencious in the extreme; such is the memory we +retain of Dr. Frederick A. Cook."</p> + + +<h3>To the Top of the Continent</h3> + +<p>Exploration in Sub-Artic Alaska. A thrilling account of the first ascent of America's +highest mountain—Mount McKinley.</p> + +<p>Dr. Cook has been engaged in exploration for twenty years—the best part of his life—all +without pay. He has furnished his own money for most of his expeditions. He is a +quiet, unassuming man and has done all of his work with little thought of personal gain +or honorary publicity. Quietly he came forward and told us that one of the greatest exploits +ever made in mountain climbing was now accomplished. It did not occur to him to beat a +drum or blow a trumpet to make this known to the world. The work was accomplished; +this was sufficient for him. Little was known of the Mt. McKinley trip until Peary brought +it up as a side issue to throw doubt on Dr. Cook's Polar Claim; see page 534 of this book.</p> + + +<h3>My Attainment of the Pole<br /> + +<br /><small>Edition de Luxe</small></h3> + +<p>Captain Amundsen in speaking of Dr. Cook's Polar trip says: "It was a pity that +Peary should besmirch his beautiful work by circulating outrageous accusations against +a competitor who had WON THE BATTLE in open field. If Peary is to prove the accusation +by the evidence of Cook's two followers, I must confess it is a very weak foundation."</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>The above books by Dr. Frederick A. Cook have been printed in edition de Luxe, +especially for subscription purposes. The regular price is $5.00 each, but to accommodate +those further interested in exploration, we have arranged to make a special reduced price; +see next page.</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="bbox"> +<p class="ralign"> +<span style="margin-right: 1em;">....................................</span><br /> +....................................</p> + +<p class="noin"> +The Polar Publishing Co.,<br /> + 601 Steinway Hall,<br /> + Chicago, Ill.</p> + +<p class="noin">Gentlemen:</p> +<p>Enclosed find three dollars ($3.00) for which please send me postpaid, one copy of +"Through the First Antarctic Night," by Dr. Frederick A. Cook, and oblige</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span style="margin-right: 6em;">Yours truly,</span><br /> +........................................<br /> +....................................</p> + +<hr style='width: 95%;' /> + +<p class="ralign"> +........................................<br /> +....................................</p> + +<p class="noin"> +The Polar Publishing Co.,<br /> + 601 Steinway Hall,<br /> + Chicago, Ill.</p> + +<p class="noin">Gentlemen:</p> +<p>Enclosed find three dollars ($3.00) for which please send me postpaid, one copy of "To +the Top of the Continent," by Dr. Frederick A. Cook, and oblige</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span style="margin-right: 6em;">Yours truly,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 1em;">....................................</span><br /> +....................................</p> + +<hr style='width: 95%;' /> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span style="margin-right: 1em;">....................................</span><br /> +....................................</p> + +<p class="noin">The Polar Publishing Co.,<br /> + 601 Steinway Hall,<br /> + Chicago, Ill.</p> + +<p class="noin">Gentlemen:</p> +<p>Enclosed find three dollars ($3.00) for which please send me postpaid, one copy of +"My Attainment of the Pole," Edition de Luxe, by Dr. Frederick A. Cook, and oblige</p> + +<p class="ralign"> +<span style="margin-right: 6em;">Yours truly,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 1em;">....................................</span><br /> +....................................</p> + +<hr style='width: 95%;' /> +<p>Remove this sheet, clip and fill out any or all of the above coupons and mail to this +office and we will forward the books at once.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's My Attainment of the Pole, by Frederick A. 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