COOK'S STORY OF HIS DISCOVERY OF NORTH POLE 47 



exercise, there promptly appeared headaches, colds, tonsilitis, neu- 

 ralgia and other such unwelcome visitations." 



Dr. Cook was obliged to abandon his sledge twenty miles back 

 from Annootok and to totter on with his two equally worn-out com- 

 panions. It was sent for and brought in, where Whitney saw it and 

 gave his testimony as to its condition. When asked if it looked as 

 if it had been used in so hard a journey as that to the Pole, he 

 replied : 



"It looked as though it had been subjected to hard usage, and 

 its appearance to my mind confirmed Dr. Cook's story of his experi- 

 ence. The sledge was badly cut up. Some of the wooden strips had 

 been slivered for firewood, for the doctor had no other material for 

 a fire. The base of the frame Jiad been cut down for arrows or 

 harpoons with which he and his Eskimos killed Arctic hare for food. 

 The Eskimos had taken off the steel runners to make knives." 



As Peary has said that no explorer could achieve the Pole unless 

 he had one of the Peary design, Whitney was asked if there was any 

 resemblance between the Cook and Peary sledges. 



"No," he answered, "there was not. Dr. Cook's sledge was 

 patterned after the type that Dr. Wilbur Grenfell uses in his work. 

 Cook adapted the Grenfell sledge because, I suppose, he thought 

 Grenfell's experience had been extensive enough to enable him to 

 judge of the most effective pattern for rough work." v 



When told of the assertion of Hensen and others that Cook's 

 two Eskimos were too young and inexperienced to have accompanied 

 any navigator to the Pole, Whitney said : 



"I employed both on my musk ox hunting trip and found them 

 capable. They are bright young fellows and they were the best dog 

 drivers and sledge handlers in my outfit. These two Eskimo boys 

 that Dr. Cook had would get their sledges over the ice faster than 

 any other drivers, pushing and lifting and jumping them." 



"Were they intelligent?" 



"Yes, very intelligent. I would not want any better Eskimos." 



