64 THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 



my supplies are exhausted, knowing that I can return to my base 

 of supplies in half the time." 



"To what do you attribute your success?" was the next ques- 

 tion. "Was it luck in having better conditions or was it that you 

 were better equipped for the work?" 



Commander Peary replied: "I expected that question. "It 

 was a combination of both. The absence of strong, continued winds 

 at right angles to my line of march helped me greatly. That was 

 what always bothered me in former expeditions. Headwinds or 

 winds from the south don't bother me a bit. Of course, the wind in 

 your face makes bad sledging, but the cross-winds cause the ice to 

 drift east or west and throw you out of your calculation. This time 

 we had the wind dead ahead. That pressed the ice against the land 

 which we had left and made good footing." 



"How about your equipment?'" 



"It was far superior to what I have had in former expeditions," 

 answered the explorer. "The sledges were of a new type, with 

 special features which made the work easier." 



"What were their special features?" he was asked. 



"They were improvements similar to those which a yacht 

 builder would develop in a yacht, after he had been building racing 

 craft for ten years. The strain on the dogs was reduced, the sledges 

 were stronger, less liable to breakage, and went over the ice with 

 twenty to thirty per cent less resistance. 



"You must understand that there is no riding in sledges when 

 you go to hunting the Pole. If the man with the sledge is able to 

 walk beside it, without any further work than the driving of the 

 dogs, he considers himself lucky. The man with the sledge must 

 bend over the handles, guiding it away from the rough places, 

 lifting it by main strength over them sometimes, reducing the strain 

 on the dogs or sledge wherever possible. He must have muscles of 

 steel. He must be tireless. He must have a wind that does not 

 give out. The nearest thing that I can think of to sledge driving is 

 breaking up virgin soil behind a plow drawn by horses or oxen." 



