ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLORER 125 



that Greenland was an elevated island, the elevation, however, con- 

 sisting of a mountain height of eternal ice, the depth of which no 

 one knew. For all that could be told this icy elevation might cover 

 an interior hill country or a low land like that of the coastal plain. 

 The result of this expedition was to acquaint him with the state of 

 affairs in the interior, information which served him in good stead 

 in his crossing of Northern Greenland in 1892. In this field he was 

 a pioneer, Nansen's crossing of Southern Greenland not being 

 achieved until several years later. 



It was after this expedition that Peary's marriage took place, 

 his bride being Miss Josephine Diebitsch, of Portland, Maine, whom 

 he had known and loved since boyhood. As events proved, she was 

 a born mate for an Arctic explorer, as she showed in their later 

 careers. 



The disaster and suffering which characterized the termination 

 of the "Polaris" and Greely expeditions did not tend to recom- 

 mend Arctic exploration as a national enterprise to the Government 

 of the United States. But a vast amount of highly valuable infor- 

 mation had been obtained, not only by these expeditions, but also by 

 the expedition sent out by the British Government under the com- 

 mand of Sir George Nares. And, in addition to the information, a 

 further knowledge had been gained, the knowledge that the same 

 spirit of indomitable pluck, the same tireless energy, and the same 

 loyalty and devotion to duty dominated both branches of the great 

 English-speaking race. These facts stirred up the adventurous to 

 further efforts. 



The discoveries along the north coast of Greenland opened up 

 the very interesting question whether that land did not extend 

 right up to the Pole itself. As far as any one had penetrated to the 

 north of the coast, land was still to be seen farther on; it was an 

 open question whether this great ice-covered country was an island, 

 with its northern shores swept by the polar ice-floes, or whether it 

 extended to the dimensions of a continent in the polar region. 



