1892.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 349 



proper vessel, the dates from here to Whale Sound may be counted 

 upon with as much certainty as those for any sea voyage of equal 

 length. It has also been demonstrated that any portion of the 

 Greenland coast can be commanded by two or three properly 

 equipped men. 



The report would be incomplete without an acknowledgment of 

 my obligations to the members of my party: To Verhoeff, not 

 only for his generous financial assistance to the enterprise, but for 

 his absorbing interest and painstaking work in the field of meteoro- 

 logical and tidal observations entrusted to his care. To Gibson, 

 strong and alert, quick with rifle and gun, the ornithologist and 

 Nimrod of the party. To Dr. Cook, patient and skilful surgeon, in- 

 defatigable worker, earnest student of the peculiar people among 

 whom we lived ; he has obtained, I believe, a record of the tribe, un- 

 approachable in ethnological archives. To Astrup, a young Her- 

 cules, fit descendant of the Vikings, almost a boy, yet with all a 

 man's grit and endurance, his handsome face was never other than 

 a pleasant sight to me, even under the most accentuated circum- 

 stances of monotony and fatigue. To Matt, my colored boy, a hard 

 and faithful worker, and second only to Gibson in the trophies of 

 the hunt. He deserves more credit, perhaps, than any other in 

 joining the expedition, belonging, as he did, to a race supposed to 

 be ill fitted for cold regions, and leaving behind him a young bride. 

 To Professor Heilprin, and the members of the Kelief Expedition, I 

 am under obligation for many an act of courtesy, and many an hour 

 of pleasant companionship. 



Finally, I desire to thank the Academy most sincerely for the 

 quick and efficient interest and assistance with which it honored my 

 project less than two years ago, and for its jealous care for the safety 

 of the expedition, resulting in the despatch of the " Kite " northward 

 last summer, thus relieving my party of the last possible element of 

 serious hardship. I assure the Academy that my personal gratifica- 

 tion in having been enabled to carry out the plans of the expedition 

 to the letter has been enhanced by the feeling that this good fortune 

 is equally gratifying to my fellow members. 



R. E. Peary, 



Civil Engineer, U. S. Navy. 



