2 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



In the summer of 1905, while on the river Gambia, on the 

 west coast of Africa, I received a letter from Mr. Leffingwell, 

 in which he told me that his father had promised him the sum 

 of $5,000 to use for an Arctic expedition. He asked me to 

 raise the same amount, as we thought that would be enough to 

 carry out our project of exploring some part of the Beaufort 

 Sea the only place in the Arctic where travellers with limited 

 means could hope to do interesting work. As soon as I came 

 to Copenhagen, I left my ship and started in earnest to raise 

 the amount of money which would be my share. 



Sir Clements Markham was in Copenhagen at the time, and, 

 knowing his readiness to help young explorers, I went to him, 

 and we talked the project over. He thought well of it and 

 advised me to go to London, as I might possibly be able to 

 collect funds there. 



In the beginning of October the first contribution toward the 

 enterprise was secured from a Dane, Mr. Carl Aller, editor and 

 proprietor of the weekly paper Familiejonrnalen. After that I 

 went to England. Everywhere I was kindly received, especially 

 by Dr. Scott-Keltie, also by several others who were interested 

 in geographical matters. 



But the days ran into weeks, and I had not yet met the multi- 

 millionaire interested in Arctic research whom I had expected 

 to find so easily. 



At last, however, after many days, when I was almost despair- 

 ing of success, fortune changed, and towards the end of October 

 I thought that the thing was practically settled. Through my 

 friend Mr. Chr. A. Bang I came in contact with the Publisher 

 Mr. William Heinemann, to whom I proposed to sell the forth- 

 coming narrative of the contemplated expedition. However, 

 I had to return to Denmark with a half-promise from the 

 Royal Geographical Society, Mr. Heinemann, and a third party, 

 but I had hardly returned when I got a cable from the above- 

 mentioned third party, in which he told me that something had 

 happened preventing him from giving the amount he shortly 

 before had thought himself able to promise. 



This was a blow to our plans and prospects, but I had yet 

 the Royal Geographical Society and Mr. Heinemann to build 

 on, and I at once commenced to work in new channels. 



A wish to obtain some photographs of musk oxen had led to 



