128 THENORTHPOLE 



ments of antler. When this spear is thrust down on 

 the fish, the antlers spread as they strike the fish's 

 back; he is impaled by the sharp point above him, and 

 the sharp barbs on either side keep him from getting 

 away. 



The char (?) of North Grant Land is a beautiful 

 mottled fish, weighing sometimes as much as eleven 

 or twelve pounds. I believe that the pink fiber of 

 these fish — taken from water never warmer than 

 35° or 40° above zero — is the firmest and sweetest 

 fish fiber in the world. During my early expeditions 

 in this region, I would spear one of these beauties and 

 throw him on the ice to freeze, then pick him up and 

 fling him down so as to shatter the flesh under the 

 skin, lay him on the sledge, and as I walked away pick 

 out morsels of the pink flesh and eat them as one would 

 eat strawberries. 



In September of 1900 with these fish a party of 

 six men and twenty-three dogs were supported for 

 some ten days, until we found musk-oxen. We speared 

 the fish in the way the Eskimos taught us, using the 

 regular native spear. 



The new members of the expedition were naturally 

 anxious to go sight-seeing. MacMillan had an attack 

 of the grip, but Borup and Dr. Goodsell scoured the 

 surrounding country. Hubbardville could not boast 

 its Westminster Abbey nor its Arc de Triomphe, but 

 there were Petersen's grave and the Alert and Roosevelt 

 cairns, both in the neighborhood, and visible from the 

 ship. 



About a mile and a half southwest from our winter 

 quarters was the memorial headboard of Petersen, the 



