Mrs. Pear\ distributing riouserio/d items 



In April Peary made a sledge trip around the south- 

 ern and eastern shore of Inglefield Gulf and stopped at 

 several villages to obtain dogs and purchase walrus meat, 

 furs, and other equipment for planned explorations to 

 the north. The Eskimos encountered were anxious to 

 barter their possessions and although there is no men- 

 tion of specific items, it is likely that ethnographic ob- 

 jects were obtained. In any event, considerable amounts 

 of trade goods were distributed in exchange for the items 

 Peary required. 



It was in the spring of 1892 that the major work of 

 the expedition was carried out. Departing from Red Cliff 

 House in late May, Peary and one companion, proceed- 

 ing overland, reached the head of Independence Fjord at 

 82° N. latitude on July 4. By August 6 they were back on 

 the shores of McCormick Bay. During Peary's absence, 

 Dr. Cook obtained ethnographic objects from the Eski- 

 mos living at Red Cliff House in exchange for pieces of 

 boards, barrel staves, boxes, and miscellaneous lumber 

 fragments no longer needed by the expediton. 



The Kite, meanwhile, had left Philadelphia on July 

 5 to pick up Peary and the members of his party. The 

 vessel reached Cape York on July 22 and on the follow- 

 ing day put ashore once again at the settlement-of Nettik 

 on Whale Sound. Here representatives of the Academy 

 of Sciences secured a "rich" collection of ethnographic 

 material in exchange for needles, knives, scissors, thim- 

 bles, and other useful items. Late at night on July 23 the 

 Kite reached Peary's winter quarters to find that the 

 lieutenant had not yet returned from his trip to the 

 north. 



On August 9, three days after his return from the 

 22 overland expedition, Peary set out on a second trip to 



Inglefield Gulf, this time by boat. One of the purposes of 

 this trip, which lasted approximately one week while the 

 Kite was standing by, was to obtain ethnographic objects 

 at the villages called Qanaq and Nunatarssuaq. These 

 materials had been promised by residents of the settle- 

 ments during the winter and at the time of Peary's first 

 trip in April. Unfortunately, neither Lieutenant nor 

 Mrs. Peary's accounts of this brief expedition into the 

 Gulf make any further mention of these objects or 

 whether they were, in fact, obtained. In any event, the 

 ethnographic material secured throughout the year was 

 shipped out on the Kite, which left McCormick Bay on 

 August 24 and reached Philadelphia on September 24, 

 1892. 



As a result of Peary's letter of July 29 and informa- 

 tion transmitted through the Academy of Natural Sci- 

 ences, Putnam, who had no way of knowing what might 

 be collected during the winter and spring, became con- 

 cerned at the meager amount of material he was going to 

 receive. He also was unhappy to learn that part of what 

 had been obtained was to be assigned to the Academy. 

 As a result, he balked at making the final payment of 

 $500 due Lieutenant Peary at the conclusion of the 

 expedition. 



Just how much of the collection went to Philadel- 

 phia cannot now be determined with certainty. The 

 academy would certainly have been justified in retaining 

 those items collected at Cape York by its representatives 

 on board the Kite in the late summer of 1891 and at 

 Nettik in July, 1892. That institution no longer has eth- 

 nographic collections, and the present whereabouts of 

 their Polar Eskimo material is unknown. 



A note in the accession files of Field Museum's 

 Department of Anthropology states that "the bulk of the 



Eskimo family and tent, Northumberland Island 



