x FINDING THE NORTH POLE 



and invigorating drink, but adds an immense amount of heat to the 

 body and acts as so much food. When traveling in the summer, 

 on the ice-floe there is generally to be found an abundance of game, 

 such as walrus, seal and bear, with occasionally a fox which follows 

 after the bear to eat the crumbs that fall from his feast. And if the 

 ice-floe is near land or islands there is also numerous water fowl 

 of all kinds, to kill which, of course, it is necessary to have shot- 

 guns, though the army repeating rifle is the proper arm for killing 

 all large game. 



The reasons above set forth are those usually advanced by all 

 Arctic explorers for and against summer and winter travel, and it 

 was the opinion of Captain DeLong and his officers that we should 

 abandon the ship in the summer time. Fortunately for us we were 

 saved making the decision, as our ship was crushed under us and 

 we were obliged to make the march in midsummer. Of this march 

 much has been written, and as a march cut off from all base of 

 supplies it has been considered one of the most heroic in Arctic 

 literature. 



I regret to have to be compelled to refer to the retreat from 

 the "Jeannette," but it is necessary to do so, as also to refer to many 

 of the other recorded marches in the Arctics in the past. At times 

 the progress made by the "Jeannette's" retreating party amounted 

 to but two and a half miles per day, although each day the distance 

 traveled was from twenty-five to thirty miles, but because of the 

 many trips made back and forth and the routes necessarily taken 

 to avoid water lakes and impassable ice ridges, our net advance on 

 some days was very small. The surface of the floe was so broken 

 and ridged up by the pressure of the ice masses, that we cut, by 

 means of pickaxes and shovels, a road nearly all the way to open 

 water, where we could launch our boats. Then it was ice and water 

 navigation as occasion offered to open water, and the remainder of 

 the journey was made in open boats until we reached the land. 

 The rest of that pitiable story and the most heroic endeavor of Cap- 



