138 PEARY'S FIRST VOYAGES 



tent and effectually protecting them from the wind. Then, when the breeze 

 had died away and the snow ceased moving, they were able to dig out their 

 sledge and proceed. 



"A distinct contrast to these stormy days was given by the period of clear 

 sunshine. Then the sky, innocent of a cloud, was a wonderful blue vault over- 

 head, while the snow-covered plateau stretched away on all sides until it was 

 lost in the distance of the horizon. The wonderfully clear air enabled the ex- 

 plorers to see a great distance ahead. At the end of the second day's march 

 after reaching this great snow desert, they found that the surface was gradu- 

 ally sloping north and south. They were on the dividing ridge and, as they 

 passed over onto the downward slope, their progress was naturally at a more 

 rapid rate. A storm, such as has been described, accompanied by falling snow, 

 overtook them, and for three days they had to stay in their shelter. When 

 at length the weather moderated and they were able to get out again they 

 discovered, before resuming the journey, that the dogs meanwhile had eaten 

 six pounds of cranberry jam and the foot off one of the sleeping-bags — a 

 fairly good example of a dog's appetite during a snow-storm. 



"On May 31 in magnificently clear weather they looked out upon a scene 

 on which no white man had ever yet gazed. In his description of the journey 

 the leader wrote : 'We looked down into the basin of the Petermann Glacier, 

 the greatest amphitheatre of snow and rugged ice that human eye has ever 

 seen.' Away beyond it, a range of black mountains towered in dome-shaped 

 hills, and they made their camp with the expectation of being able to see more 

 of the distant range at the end of another march. But by the time they were 

 able to resume their march a thick fog had come into the air, and for three 

 days they could only see the snow at their feet. They directed their course 

 entirely by compass, but as they were unable to see long distances ahead, they 

 were unprepared for a change in the surface. Before they could avoid it, they 

 found themselves amongst rough ice and open crevices. They were getting 

 onto the Sherard Osborne Glacier, and, in the misty weather they were ex- 

 periencing, it was difficult to get back onto the smooth ice again. Over a 

 fortnight was spent in getting beyond this rough ground, and at length, on 

 the weather clearing, they found that straight ahead of them a range of hills 

 showed along the horizon above the ice-cap. The appearance of the hills 

 directly in their path decided them to turn their course from due east to south- 

 east, and they were soon able to make out the line of a deep channel running 

 from the northeast to the southwest. 



