INTRODUCTION 



Hubbard medal, and in welcoming you home from the 

 great feat which you have performed, Commander Peary. 



Peary's reply to President Roosevelt on the presen- 

 tation of the Hubbard Medal of the National Geo- 

 graphic Society, December 15, 1906. 



President Roosevelt: In behalf of the Peary Arctic 

 Club and its president, Morris K. Jesup, I beg to express 

 our deep appreciation of the great honour conferred by the 

 National Geographic Society in this award of its gold 

 medal, and the double honour of receiving this medal from 

 your hand. 



Your continued interest, Mr. President, your permis- 

 sion to name the club's ship after you, and your name itself 

 have proved a powerful talisman. Could I have foreseen 

 this occasion, it would have lightened many dark hours, 

 but I will frankly say that it would not, for it could not, 

 have increased my efforts. 



The true explorer does his work not for any hopes of 

 reward or honour, but because the thing he has set himself 

 to do is a part of his being, and must be accomplished for 

 the sake of the accomplishment. And he counts lightly 

 hardships, risks, obstacles, if only they do not bar him 

 from his goal. 



To me the final and complete solution of the Polar mys- 

 tery which has engaged the best thought and interest of some 

 of the best men of the most vigorous and enlightened 

 nations of the world for more than three centuries, and 

 to-day quickens the pulse of every man or woman whose 

 veins hold red blood, is the thing which should be done for 

 the honour and credit of this country, the thing which it is 

 intended that I should do, and the thing that I must do. 



