274 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS. 



fossils from a fiord in the north, where they had 

 formerly discovered considerable beds of coal. 

 We arrived at Godhavn, Greenland, on Aug. 18. 

 We left there on Aug. 22, passed Cape Farewell 

 on Aug. 28." 



Lieut. Robert E. Peary returned from his four 

 years' sojourn in arctic regions on the relief 

 steamer Windward, reaching Sydney, Cape Breton 

 island, Sept. 18. He did not reach the pole; 

 his highest point was 84 17'. The party of the 

 Duke of the Abruzzi reached 80 33' in 1900. 

 Lieut. Peary announced that important scien- 

 tific discoveries had been made by the expedition. 

 The following passages are from his report of 

 the operations from August, 1901 : 



"Left Erik harbor, on the Ellesmere coast, 

 Aug. 29. The party reached Payer harbor Sept. 

 16, crossing Roose Bay partly by sledge and 

 partly by boat, then walking across Bedford 

 Pirn Sound. About a week later my Eskimos 

 began to fall sick, not one escaping. By Nov. 

 19 6 adults and one child were dead, nearly all 

 the others very weak, but imt of danger. 



" Early in January Eskimos came across from 

 Anvilik, bringing news of the ravages of a fatal 

 epidemic through the tribe. Word was sent back 

 by the scouts for as many of the survivors as 

 could to come to me, and by the end of the 

 month they began arriving. In February a large 

 depot of dog food was established near Cape 

 Louis Napoleon, 60 miles north of Sabine. On 

 March 3 my advance party of 6 sledges, in 

 charge of Hensen, left for Conger. March 3 

 started with the main party of 18 sledges. Con- 

 ger was reached in 12 marches, arriving within 

 an hour or two of the advance party. My sup- 

 porting party of Eskimos, returning from Con- 

 ger, brought down the instruments, chronometers, 

 and arctic library. Eight marches more took us 

 to Cape Hecla. 



" The north end of Robeson channel was all 

 open across to the Greenland coast. Lakes of 

 water, extending northward, could be seen from 

 Black Cape and Cape Ransome. From Hecla 

 another supporting party returned. April 1 

 started northward over the polar sea with Hen- 

 sen, 4 Eskimos, and 6 sledges. Old floes, covered 

 with snow and intersected with rubble ridges 

 and lanes of young ice, were encountered from 

 the moment we left the ice foot. 



" After 6 marches, open leads, floes in motion 

 were encountered. Two natives were sent back. 

 As we advanced, the floes became smaller, the 

 pressure ridges on a grander scale, and the open 

 leads more frequent. Each day's march was 

 more perilous, and our general course deflected 

 west by the character of the ice. Finally, at 

 84.17 north latitude, northwest of Hecla, the 

 polar pack became impracticable, and further 

 efforts to advance were given up New leads and 

 pressure ridges with foggy weather made our 

 return in some respects more trying than the 

 advance. Hecla was regained April 29, and Con- 

 ger May 3. Cape Sabine was reached on the 

 15th. A few days later went north as far as 

 Cape Louis Napoleon to complete the survey of 

 Bobbit Bay, returning June 1. 



"The ice broke up earlier than in 1901, and 

 Payer harbor was blockaded almost continuous- 

 ly. The Windward bored her way through the 

 ice and entered the harbor the morning of Aug. 

 5, and got out again the same afternoon with 

 scarcely fifteen minutes to spare before the har- 

 bor was closed by the ice. Forcing our way 

 across Smith Sound, my Eskimos, with their be- 

 longings, were landed in Inglefield Gulf. Sev- 

 eral days were devoted to hunting walrus, then 



the Windward started south, reaching and leav- 

 ing Cape York the afternoon of Aug. 28. 



'' Equipment and personnel were satisfactory, 

 and farther advance was vetoed by insuperable 

 natural conditions. The Windward has on 

 board the instruments, chronometers, and arctic 

 library abandoned by the Greely expedition, and 

 numerous specimens of natural history, musk-ox, 

 reindeer, and walrus skins. The skeleton of a 

 two-horned narwhal a rare arctic specimen 

 living specimens of musk-ox, walrus, arctic hare, 

 and Eskimo dog are also on board." 



Lieut. Peary said he had made a close study 

 of the most northerly people in the world, the 

 Eskimos living on Whale Sound. They are a 

 small tribe, completely isolated, not exceeding 

 200, and are being rapidly destroyed by an un- 

 known disease, apparently a malignant slow 

 fever. Lieut. Peary taught them to work, em- 

 ployed them, and paid them with weapons and 

 utensils, by which their ability to procure food 

 is materially increased. He believes that the 

 pole can be reached on sledges by any expedi- 

 tion adequately equipped which makes its win- 

 ter quarters at latitude 83. It is no more diffi- 

 cult to travel between latitudes 70 and 80 than 

 between 60 and 70, and he believes not more 

 difficult between 80 and 90 than between 70 

 and 80. He thinks there is no open ocean in 

 the extreme north, nor is there a constantly 

 frozen sea, though the waters are practically 

 covered always with ice. The shore of Greenland 

 he believes the most northerly land on the earth. 



The expedition sent out in 1901 by William 

 Ziegler under command of Evelyn B: Baldwin, 

 returning, arrived at Honningsvaag. Norway, 

 Aug. 1. A supply ship, the Frith j of, had left 

 Tromsoe July 1 to carry coal and bring back 

 news of the expedition. The result of the under- 

 taking is regarded as a failure, in that the ex- 

 plorers did not reach the pole, which achieve- 

 ment was declared to be the specific purpose of 

 the expedition " to plant the American flag at 

 the north pole " for which it was more fully 

 equipped than any previous expedition has 

 been. In explanation Mr. Baldwin said : " In 

 the course of nearly a year and a half's incessant 

 work we have accomplished more than the un- 

 favorable conditions which surrounded us really 

 warranted, and have, in addition, brought back 

 data which ought materially to assist subse- 

 quent explorers. For the first time in the history 

 of north polar 'exploration a photographic rec- 

 ord has been secured of the ice and snow con- 

 ditions of the arctic and of the animal life of 

 those regions so complete as to be practically 

 exhaustive. In this respect the kinematograph 

 has played a most important part the first time 

 it has ever been successfully employed in the far 

 north and we now have over 1,000 perfect pho- 

 tographic representations of our work. In addi- 

 tion, we have over 200 drawings and paintings." 



The character of the ice in the Franz-Josef 

 Land archipelago, all the channels of which were 

 blocked in the autumn of 1901, prevented the 

 America from going far enough north to allow 

 of establishing headquarters favorable for sledge 

 work in the winter and spring, so that winter 

 quarters had to be made at Camp Ziegler, the 

 station founded on the explorer's first arrival in 

 80 23' north, instead of at the higher point 

 they had hoped to reach. In addition to this 

 disadvantage, more than half the dogs died of 

 disease. Mr. Baldwin said further: 



" Briefly, my scheme was to establish our- 

 selves as strongly, as possible upon the northern- 

 most land of the archipelago before attempting 



