188 THENORTHPOLE 



proved to be the most effective way to carry on an 

 arctic sledge journey. 



The party that started for the Greenland coast, 

 across the ice of Robeson Channel, on the evening of 

 December 29, consisted of Marvin, the captain, nine 

 Eskimos, and fifty-four dogs. They were all to go 

 south along the coast to Cape Union, then cross the 

 channel to Cape Brevoort, Marvin, with his men and 

 supporting parties, going north to Cape Bryant for a 

 month of tidal observations, the captain and his men 

 going south along the ice of Newman Bay and on to the 

 Polaris Promontory to hunt. 



The following day, Dr. Goodsell and Borup, each 

 with his party of Eskimos and dogs, started by way of 

 Cape Belknap, the doctor to hunt in Clements Markham 

 Inlet, Borup to hunt in the region of the first glacier 

 north of Lake Hazen. No such extensive field work 

 had ever before been attempted by any arctic expedi- 

 tion, the radius of territory covered being about ninety 

 miles in all directions from our winter quarters. 



While distributing material for the spring sewing 

 among the Eskimo women in the forward deck house 

 and in the box houses and snow igloos on shore, I 

 learned that some of the Eskimo men felt somewhat 

 shaky about going north again on the ice of the polar 

 sea. They had not forgotten the narrow escape we 

 had had in recrossing the "big lead" on the return 

 journey from the "farthest north" of 1906. Though I 

 felt confident of my ability to handle them when the 

 time came, still, I realized that we might have trouble 

 with them yet. But I would not permit myself to 

 worry about the outcome. 



