128 ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLORER 



was completed and he was removed into it. By that time the "Kite" 

 had started home again, and the little party of seven were left to 

 make all their arrangements for the winter. 



They had determined to rely entirely upon their own exertions 

 for the supply of meat for the winter and also to obtain their fur 

 clothing on the spot, killing the animals necessary for the material 

 and engaging some of the local Eskimos to make up the suits. Deer 

 would give both meat and fur, and as there was every prospect of 

 the neighborhood affording these in plenty, as soon as the house was 

 up and the stores packed, the majority started away in search of 

 game. 



The place where they had erected their camp was a verdure- 

 covered slope lying between the sea and the high range of bluff hills 

 which towered about one thousand feet over them. In the spring 

 the ground here was covered with grass and flowers, the bay in 

 front was full of seal, walrus, whales, and other marine animals, 

 anl along the hills behind experience showed that land game was 

 present in abundance. The Etah Eskimos, the most northerly people 

 in existence, lived along the shores of the bay and neighboring inlets, 

 and, as soon as the camp was settled, they were kept busily employed 

 in the making of fur garments, proving themselves docile and 

 peaceful. It was often difficult for the members of the expedition 

 to realize that the site of their camp, with the abundance of food to 

 be had, was only from fifty to eighty miles distant from the spots 

 where the castaways of the "Polaris" suffered so acutely and the 

 members of the Greely expedition slowly starved, many of them to 

 death. For more than a year the little party of seven lived in good 

 health, without a suggestion of scurvy making its appearance and 

 with only one fatality, this being accidental. 



The first hunting expedition was in search of deer, and every- 

 body took part in it except the crippled leader and his wife. For 

 two or three days the hunters were away, for they were fortunate 

 in discovering a herd of deer which they followed until all were 



