30 NEAREST THE POLE 



transferring the meat, of restowing the Roosevelt's 

 supplies, and of filling her bunkers and 'tween-deck 

 space with coal from the Erik, was commenced. This 

 continued during Monday, Tuesday, and till Wednesday 

 at 2 A.M. when the Roosevelt was ready to steam out and 

 begin the struggle for which she was built, the fight 

 with the Arctic ice from Cape Sabine to the northern 

 shore of Grant Land. Thus far the voyage had been 

 child's play: what was now before her was likely to be 

 the reverse. 



The Roosevelt now had on board of her a crew of 

 twenty, some forty Eskimos, and about 200 dogs. 

 She also carried, in addition to the supplies and equip- 

 ment for the party, about four hundred and fifty tons 

 of coal and several tons of walrus meat. 



I had been agreeably surprised to find the natives 

 in unusually prosperous condition, with a super- 

 fluity of dogs, abundance of meat, and a good supply 

 of skins for clothing. Several of my old friends and 

 acquaintances had died during the last three years, 

 but there were also a number of new babies and, 

 although I did not have time for anything in the 

 nature of a census, I had no doubt that the births 

 equalled and probably exceeded the number of deaths. 



