334 STORY OF HARRY WHITNEY 



him of Peary's taking over of his house and stores, but declared that he had 

 suffered no unfairness. 



There were two houses on the Greenland shore, one at Annotook, holding 

 Cook's stores, and another at Etah, holding Peary's stores. The three white 

 men, Whitney, Murphy and Pritchard, Peary's steward, sometimes occupied 

 one and sometimes the other of these houses. Murphy was in charge of both 

 houses. He is not able to read or write. He had written instructions from 

 Peary, which Whitney, at Peary's request read over to him from time to time. 

 These instructions were stringent. They directed Murphy to use Cook's 

 stores first and Peary's afterward. Murphy was told in them that he was 

 to give Dr. Cook every help if he came along in a needy condition, and further- 

 more the instructions implied that Murphy was to organize an expedition to 

 search for Dr. Cook, but, according to Mir. Whitney, this part of the in- 

 structions was worded very ambiguously. Mr. Whitney said that Cook had 

 a copy of these instructions. Murphy treated Cook very civilly and Cook 

 suffered no discourtesy. 



When Dr. Cook and his Eskimos arrived at the house they had no sledge ; 

 being too tired to drag it over the rough ice, they left it twenty miles from 

 Etah. The following day some other Eskimos went out, recovered the sledge 

 and brought it in. On it were Dr. Cook's instruments, clothes and food. 



After passing two days at Annatook, where Cook first met Whitney, Cook 

 started for Etah. Whitney accompanied him. Cook remained for three days 

 at Etah, organizing for his trip south to Upernavik. The doctor had figured 

 out rightly the date that he would likely get to Upernavik and when the Dundee 

 whalers or the Danish store ships would reach there, and he argued that 

 he had no time to lose. He planned originally to take two Eskimos and 

 two sledges, but one Eskimo fell sick and this made it necessary for him to cut 

 down the luggage he could take with him south. He consequently asked Whit- 

 ney to take charge of the instruments with which he had made his observa- 

 tions at the pole. 



There were three cases, one containing a sextant, another an artificial hori- 

 zon, and the third an instrument which Mr. Whitney said he could not recaU. 

 It hight have been a chronometer. Cook left no written records with Whit- 

 ney that Whitney was aware of. There may have been some records, how- 

 ever, in the other boxes in which Cook packed his clothes and his personal 

 effects, but Cook did not tell Whitney especially that he was leaving any 

 written records with him, Mr. Whitney was very positive about this. 



