140 PEARY CROSSES GREENLAND 



the party got under way, Peary leading, followed by Gibson, Astrup. 

 and Cook, each with a team. Henson had frozen his heel during 

 the past winter, and it grew so painful after a mile's walk over the 

 ice, that he was sent back as unfit to p^ceed. 



Almost at the start misfortune came upon them. On May 8th 

 the wind blew so violently from the interior, hurling frozen particles 

 of snow with great force into the faces of the party, that they were 

 obliged to halt and build igloos of snow in which to shelter them- 

 selves from the blizzard. After twenty-four hours of this confine- 

 ment Peary and Gibson left their igloo to seek their companions, 

 who were encamped farther on, and found them so deeply buried 

 that only the extremity of their upright sledges appeared above the 

 drifts. The snow had made Cook and Astrup prisoners in their 

 igloo and it took hours to extricate the buried sledges. 



This done, another and worse trouble awaited the explorers. 

 The dogs had broken loose, had chewed up their harness and de- 

 voured every accessible particle of food, and their recapture was a 

 matter of no small difficulty. Almost as wild and savage as wolves, 

 patience and dexterity were necessary to subdue the untamed ani- 

 mals. The usual method of doing this was to coax them within 

 reach by the display of food, seize them, and bury their heads in the 

 snow. With skill in handling the brutes this might be done with 

 the infliction of a bite or two, though before they could all be sub- 

 dued some had to be lassoed and nearly choken to death. 



As will appear from what has been said, the explorers had no 

 pleasure excursion before them. Only three days out and all this 

 already passed through! The prospect was startling. As for the 

 igloos, they took so much time to build and were so cold and gen- 

 erally disagreeable when built that during the remainder of the 

 expedition they were dispensed with, sleeping-bags replacing them. 



It was May I4th before the uphill course was completed and 

 the true inland ice was reached. From this time forward progress 

 was easier, the slope of the ice being easy and gradual. But other 



