PEARY CROSSES GREENLAND 139 



ered and many enormous glaciers discovered. This work was done 

 by Peary and his devoted wife, attended by a native driver. It 

 occupied a week, during which a storm compelled them to spend one 

 night in an Eskimo igloo, housing with the natives an experience 

 the reverse of agreeable. 



On their return, the final preparations were made for the inland 

 ice journey which Lieutenant Peary had long held in view. In 

 1886 he had gone a hundred miles inland from Disco Bay, in cen- 

 tral Greenland. Now he proposed to cross the island from side to 

 side in its northern region, if possible, as Nansen a few years before 

 had crossed it in the south. On the last day of April the work of 

 transporting provisions and other supplies to the summit of the ice 

 field began, the ground being so steep and broken that the whole 

 outfit had to be transported up the long and difficult slope on the 

 shoulders of the men of the party and of the Eskimos of the settle- 

 ment. 



Three days later, on May 3, 1892, the time to start arrived. 

 At eight o'clock in the morning Henson, Peary's faithful attendant, 

 set out for the ice-foot with a large dog-sled. The stalwart mu- 

 latto had become an experienced whip, but the wolf-like dogs, fresh 

 from a long rest and in the highest spirit, gave him all he could do 

 to keep them in order, their pulling being diversified with intervals 

 of snarling and fighting. 



The starting point was reached at three on the following 

 morning, after a weary climb up the sloping side of the rugged 

 gorge. Peary followed Henson, after bidding an affectionate fare- 

 well to his wife, in which they both realized the fact that it might 

 be a final one, since no one knew what perils the ice wilderness held. 



At the top of the gorge Dr. Cook, Gibson and Astrup, who had 

 been carrying stores to the upper ice, were found slumbering in 

 their sleeping-bags, but quickly rose to aid in the work of packing 

 the sledges, an important task which occupied two full days. At 

 length all was ready, the dogs, twenty in all, were harnessed, and 



