PEARY'S FARTHEST NORTH OF 1905-6 155 



He was satisfied that he had determined conclusively the insular 

 character of Greenland, and reached the point at which its coast 

 trended southerly toward Independence Bay, discovered by, him in 

 1892. 



So far he had not been able to make the dash northward over 

 the polar ice so long contemplated by him, and two more winters 

 passed before he felt that the time had arrived. He made a start 

 from Fort Conger on April 5, 1901, but on reaching Lincoln Sea, as 

 the ocean north of Greenland is called, he gave up the attempt on 

 the Pole as hopeless for that year, neither men nor dogs being in 

 condition to venture upon such a journey. He therefore reluctantly 

 turned back, reaching the "Windward" at Payer Harbor on May 

 6th. Here the rest of the year was spent. Much had been done 

 and important discoveries made. The lay of the farthest north land 

 had been definitely traced and charted from the eastern side of 

 Greenland to the western side of Ellesmere Land. The attack upon 

 the Pole was laid aside for the work of the coming year. 



One difficulty in the venture before them lay in the fact that the 

 "Windward" was harbored so far to the south. Two hundred miles 

 had to be traversed before Fort Conger was reached, and a consid- 

 erable distance farther before they came to Crozier Island, where 

 Robeson Channel opens out into Lincoln Sea and the polar pack is 

 reached. This journey occupied the explorers a full month, from 

 March 6 to April 6, 1902, during which they had gone over four 

 hundred miles of arduous travel, in a temperature ranging from 

 35 to 57 degrees Fahrenheit, to reach their true starting point, 

 in the vicinity of the one used by Peary in his later polar voyages. 



On the morning of April 7th the small party of adventurers 

 climbed downjthe island shore and over the ice-foot to the polar 

 pack, and the dash for the Pole began. It was a small party that 

 set out on this journey of peril, consisting of two Americans, a white 

 and a black, Peary and Henson, with eight or ten Eskimos and sixty 

 dogs. They had large supolies of food for the men and eighty tons 



