THE PLAN 7 



on March 1 the expedition left Cape Columbia, head- 

 ing across the Polar Ocean for the Pole. The 84th 

 parallel was crossed on March 18, the 86th on March 

 23, the Italian record was passed the next day, the 88th 

 parallel on April 2, the 89th on April 4, and the North 

 Pole was reached on April 6 at ten o'clock in the 

 morning. I spent thirty hours at the Pole with 

 Matt Henson, Ootah, the faithful Eskimo who had 

 gone with me in 1906 to 87° 6', the then ''farthest 

 north," and three other Eskimos who had also been 

 with me on previous expeditions. The six of us left 

 the much desired "ninety north" on April 7 on the 

 return journey and reached land at Cape Columbia 

 again on April 23. 



It will be noted that while the journey from Cape 

 Columbia to the Pole consumed thirty-seven days, 

 (though only twenty-seven marches) we returned from 

 the Pole to Cape Columbia in only sixteen days. The 

 extraordinary speed of the return journey is to be 

 accounted for by the fact that we merely had to retrace 

 our old trail instead of making a new one, and because 

 we were fortunate in encountering no delays. Excel- 

 lent conditions of ice and weather also contributed, 

 not to mention the fact that the exhilaration of suc- 

 cess lent wings to our sorely battered feet. But Ootah, 

 the Eskimo, had his own explanation. Said he: "The 

 devil is asleep or having trouble with his wife, or we 

 should never have come back so easily." 



It will be noted in this comparison, that practically 

 the only feature of the plan from which essential 

 deviation was made was in returning to Cape Columbia 

 on the coast of Grant Land instead of further east- 



