PREFACE vii 



had never been and into which Eskimos were unwilling to go because 

 they believed them devoid of resources, and that I could in these 

 regions travel indefinitely, carrying on scientific or other work and 

 depending entirely on the resources of the country for food and 

 fuel — food being the flesh of animals and the fuel their fat. 



Dr. Anderson and I had just finished, to the entire satisfaction 

 of the American Museum of Natural History, a long polar expedi- 

 tion under their auspices. On that expedition we had already done 

 things which the Museum authorities had supposed to be exceedingly 

 difficult or impossible, and we had done them without special effort, 

 for we had found the conditions far more favorable than they had 

 realized. The Museum authorities were, therefore, in a frame of 

 mind to believe me when I told them that the entire polar area was 

 as easy to make a living in as the district inhabited by the Eskimos, 

 and they were the first to assent to our contention that we could 

 travel where we liked, depending on the country for sustenance. 



After securing the support of Dr. Clark Wissler, curator of 

 anthropology in the Museum (under whose direction I had carried 

 out the expedition of 1908-12), I presented the case for the new 

 expedition to Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn, the President of 

 the Museum. He declined at first to support the expedition, not 

 because he lacked confidence in its fundamental principles but 

 because the Museum was short of money and because they were 

 already organizing another polar expedition — the Crocker Land 

 Expedition, commanded by Donald B. MacMillan. They wanted 

 me to wait a year or two till other work was off their hands and 

 they were in a better position to support an enterprise of this sort. 



Waiting did not suit me at the time, and I accordingly went 

 to the National Geographic Society, presenting my case to the 

 Director, Mr. Gilbert Grosvenor. Later I presented the same case 

 to the Board of Trustees, who were favorably impressed and with 

 very little delay voted to give me $22,500. I now went back to 

 the Museum and told them that, while I disliked severing my con- 

 nection with the institution, I should have to do so unless they came 

 forward at once to join the National Geographic Society in their 

 support of the present enterprise. Hereupon the Museum made a 

 special plea to one of its chief patrons and we soon had the further 

 promise of $22,500. 



In Boston, the Harvard Travelers' Club, of which I had been 

 a member for many years, lent its moral support promptly to the 

 expedition and later on decided to contribute $5,000. In Philadel- 

 phia my old friend, Henry G. Bryant, who was then President of 



