1914] IN SEARCH OF CROCKER LAND 51 



went badly scorched Tau-ching-wa, looking like a very 

 demon and wearing a hideous-looking cloth mask, be- 

 neath which I knew there was a grin in spite of the 

 forthcoming sixty below zero and the hardships of the 

 trail. 



Stretching out before me to the westward there were 

 now nineteen men and fifteen sledges drawn by 165 

 dogs, headed toward that great unknown sector of the 

 Polar Sea, consisting of half a million square miles. 

 The distance from Etah to the edge of this white spot 

 by air line is 483 statute miles. 



A war of wind and drifting snow on the 11th pre- 

 cluded all thought of my division leaving. Excellent 

 weather on the 12th saw Pee-a-wah-to, Peary's able 

 assistant, Mene, the Eskimo boy who was brought to 

 New York in 1896, and myself galloping away with 

 empty sledges to join the main party far in advance. 

 At Sunrise Point we found the ice-foot, our highway 

 northward, overflow^ed by an exceptionally high tide, 

 which, upon the ebb, would result in a w^et, salty sur- 

 face, injurious to the feet of our dogs, and a freezing of 

 our traces into iron rods. I concluded, therefore, that 

 the next day, although it was Friday, the 13th, would 

 be far preferable for the beginning of our long journey. 

 With a good start, good going, and dogs in fine condi- 

 tion, we made Ka-mowitz the next day in three hours. 

 Here at our first camp the thermometer registered forty- 

 eight below zero, Fahrenlieit. We found that all sup- 

 plies had been moved across the Sound by the advance 

 sledges, enabling us the next day to run across, with 

 very light loads, in six hours to Payer Harbor at Cape 

 Sabine. 



Proclaimed to the world in 1850 by Commander E. A. 



