164 PEARY'S FARTHEST NORTH OF 1905-6 



"As we advanced the character of the ice improved, the floes 

 becoming much larger and rafters infrequent, but the cracks and 

 narow leads increased and were nearly all active. These cracks 

 were uniformly at right angles to our course, and the ice on the 

 northern side was moving more rapidly eastward than that on the 

 southern. 



"As dogs gave out, unable to keep the pace, they were fed to 

 the others. April 2Oth we came into a region of open leads, leading- 

 nearly north and south, and the ice motion became more pronounced. 

 Hurrying on between these, a forced march was made. Then we 

 slept a few hours, and, starting again soon after midnight, pushed 

 on till noon of the 2ist. 



"My observation then gave 87 degrees 6 minutes. So far as 

 history records, this is the nearest approach to the Pole ever made 

 by human beings. 



"I thanked God with as good a grace as possible for what I had 

 been able to accomplish, though it was but an empty bauble com- 

 pared with the splendid jewel for which I was straining my life. 

 But, looking at my remaining dogs and the nearly empty sledges, 

 and bearing in mind the moving ice and the unknown quantity of 

 the big lead between us and the nearest land, I felt that I had cut 

 the margin as narrow as could be reasonably expected. 



"My flags were flung out from the top of the highest pinnacle 

 near us, and a hundred feet or so beyond I left a bottle containing a 

 brief record and a piece of the silk flag which six years before I 

 had carried round the northern end of Greenland." 



Such is the dramatic story of Peary's "Farthest North" of 

 1905-06. 



The return journey must be much more briefly told, though it 

 was one replete with perils and hardships. Their carefully planned 

 line of supplies cut off, and the food brought with them so reduced 

 in quantity that he had not dared to advance a mile further, they 

 were in serious danger of starvation before they could reach the ship 



