210 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



September 12 we moved into a large, 

 comfortable home 34 by 34, eight rooms 

 on the ground floor and a large attic for 

 a store room. To this we added as a 

 protection from the cold and for quarters 

 for our dog-drivers a shed eight feet 

 wide on two sides. I am quite sure we 

 have the most palatial residence ever 

 put up in the Arctic with our electric 

 lights and with telephone to two Eskimo 

 igloos, ^ye have tried to make the boys 

 just as comfortable as possible as an in- 

 ducement to good work, giving them good 

 warm rooms and good warm clothing. 



... .1 have succeeded in establishing 

 tw^o provision stations on the line of 

 march to Crocker Land, one at Anoritok, 

 about tw^enty-five miles north of here 

 and the other across Smith Sound over 

 in Ellesmere Land at the entrance of 

 Buchanan Bay. The boys crossed over 

 last month by moonlight getting five 

 polar bears on the way. This moon our 

 dog-drivers are all hunting walrus, hop- 

 ing to give our dogs plenty of meat so as 

 to keep them strong for the hard work 

 to come. 



. . . .We have over a thousand miles 

 to go in a temperature ranging from 

 thirty degrees to seventy degrees below, 

 and such an undertaking cannot be ac- 

 complished without hardship and suffer- 

 ing and loss of dogs. The evil spirit of 

 the Arctic is always watching and can 

 change success into misfortune and 

 failure within a few hours. One month 

 ago the boys with their dog-drivers had 

 no trouble at all in getting to Anoritok. 

 This month when the ice conditions 

 should be better we were blocked by 

 open water almost within sight of the 

 house. Such is the uncertainty of one's 

 work here. 



When we left home Allen and Green 

 were quite sure that we should be able 

 to communicate with you by wireless 

 whenever we liked. They have tried, 



have worked like Trojans, have listened 

 attentively but not a tick or a buzz 

 have we heard, which is a great disap- 

 pointment to the Museum and our 

 friends. In the spring we shall try kites 

 to support the aerial and keep trying as 

 long as we are here, hoping that condi- 

 tions may be right at some time to catch 

 us. 



We shall leave the house here for 

 Crocker Land about February 10 with 

 twenty-one men and one hundred and 

 sixty dogs and shall remain on the other 

 side just as long as we possibly can. If 

 cut off by open water in Smith Sound we 

 can easily subsist on game found in the 

 region, crossing over when ice forms late 

 in the fall. 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS FROM FITZHUGH 

 GREEN TO HIS FATHER AND MOTHER DATED 



JANUARY 11 and 24, 1914, written at etah, 



NORTH GREENLAND 



Our plans for the spring trip are com- 

 plete. I leave two weeks from to-day, 

 when the moon is up and increasing 

 daylight permits traveling. . . . 



The white men do not travel together. 

 We cannot take tents and shall depend 

 on the natives for our snow shelters. 

 We are taking tea, biscuit and pemmi- 

 can for eighty days but do not expect 

 to be back until June, depending on 

 game for food later... We can take 

 only the clothes in which we walk, spare 

 foot gear, an extra shirt and a sleeping 

 bag. 



I know that you care not the snap of 

 your fingers whether we find Crocker 

 Land or not. I realize that I must come 

 back to you. But even that cannot 

 change the everlasting desire inside of 

 me, the passion to travel, to fight the 

 cold, and the wind and the nights, to 

 be hungry and kill game. Unless the 

 Devil himself gets into my luck and lays 

 me up early with a frozen foot or the like 



