A BLIZZARD 5 



Peary was incapacitated; he was let loose and followed 

 for a time, but then disappeared. When the eastern party 

 afterwards visited the depot in 80° S., they found him 

 there in good condition. He was shy at first, but by 

 degrees let them come near him and put the harness on. 

 He did very good service after that. Uranus and Fuchs 

 were out of condition. This was pretty bad for the first 

 day, but the others were all worth their weight in gold. 

 During the night it blew a gale from the east, but it 

 moderated in the morning, so that we got away at 

 10 a.m. The weather did not hold for long; the wind 

 came again with renewed force from the same quarter, 

 with thick driving snow. However, we went along 

 well, and passed flag after flag. After going nineteen 

 and a quarter miles, we came to a snow beacon that had 

 been erected at the beginning of April, and had stood 

 for seven months; it was still quite good and solid. 

 This gave us a good deal to think about: so we could 

 depend upon these beacons; they would not fall down. 

 From the experience thus gained, we afterwards erected 

 the whole of our extensive system of beacons on the way 

 south. The wind went to the south-east during the 

 day; it blew, but luckily it had stopped snowing. The 

 temperature was - 11*5° F., and bitter enough against 

 the wind. When we stopped in the evening and set our 

 tent, we had just found our tracks from the last trip; 

 they were sharp and clear, though six weeks old. We 

 were glad to find them, as we had seen no flag for some 



