36 COOK'S STORY OF HIS DISCOVERY OF NORTH POLE 



were not large. For the same reason we were able to proceed most 

 quickly. We were working with a full equipment and on the pre- 

 liminary work of 200 men, women and children. There seems to be 

 an impression that I was not properly outfitted. If I started again 

 I would do practically the same thing. Our motive force was men 

 and dogs. The men were accustomed to the life, not amateurs) 

 dragged in for a year. These men's life is that of men who seek the 

 Pole. No one who does not know the true Eskimo can appreciate 

 his force. I regard the Eskimos as much more intelligent than we 

 are when it comes to finding positions in the Arctic without instru- 

 ments. They know where they have not been. They have a name 

 for the Pole, the "Big Nail." They know the earth is round, and 

 they appreciate the spirit in which Arctic expeditions are under- 

 taken. 



"Going northward I struck first a westerly course from Green- 

 land and then moved northward. We pushed out into the Polar Sea 

 from the southern point of Heiborg Island on March iSth. Six 

 Eskimos returned from here. With four men and forty-six dogs 

 moving supplies for eighty days, the crossing of the circumpolar 

 pack was begun. Three days later two other Eskimos, forming the 

 last supporting party, returned and the trials had been now reduced 

 by the survival of the fittest. The furthest land north found by us 

 is between the parallels of 84 and 85, and near the iO2d meridian. 

 There was no game observed beyond Heiborg Island. I saw a bear 

 track in latitude 83 and surface life in the water algse. The drift 

 of the ice during the entire trip was northward. The wind was 

 south and west. 



"For the last part I was able to have a choice in picking the best 

 men and best dogs until the final selection, which explains our rapid 

 progress. Besides, travelers in the north are accustomed to man- 

 drawn sleds and heavy loads, and are not used to expert drivers and 

 quick dogs. We averaged a little less than fifteen miles a day. The 

 ice gave an open route. The loads were light. Then again we did 



