BARTLETT REACHES 8 7° 4 V 267 



six miles to the north in order to make sure of reaching 

 the 88th parallel. On his return he was to take a merid- 

 ian observation to determine our position. While 

 he was gone I culled the best dogs from his teams, 

 replacing them with the poorer dogs from the teams of 

 the main party. The dogs were on the whole in very 

 good condition, far better than on any of my previous 

 expeditions. I had been throwing the brunt of the 

 dragging on the poorest dogs, those that I judged were 

 going to fail, so as to keep the best dogs fresh for the 

 final spurt. 



My theory was to work the supporting parties to 

 the limit, in order to keep the main party fresh; and 

 those men who I expected from the beginning would 

 form the main party at the last had things made as 

 easy as possible for them all the way up. Ootah, Hen- 

 son and Egingwah were in this group. Whenever I could 

 do so I had eased their loads for them, giving them the 

 best dogs, and keeping the poorest dogs with the teams 

 of those Eskimos who I knew were going back. It 

 was a part of the deliberate plan to work the support- 

 ing parties as hard as possible, in order to keep the main 

 party fresh up to the farthest possible point. 



From the beginning there were certain Eskimos 

 who, I knew, barring some unforeseen accident, would 

 go to the Pole with me. There were others who were 

 assigned not to go anywhere near there, and others 

 who were available for either course. If any accidents 

 occurred to those men whom I had originally chosen, 

 I planned to fill their places with the next best ones 

 who were all willing to go. 



On Bartlett's return the Eskimos built the usual 



