76 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[April 1, 1895. 



expedition was more or less diseased, ha\ing been pre- 

 pared for the Greenland expedition ten years previously ! 

 It had not been used at all by that expedition, and was 

 sold on its return by auction to an " honest dealer," and 

 repurchased for a mere trifle for our expedition. Under 



An Iceberg. 



the care of Dr. Vincent I was soon on my legs again, 

 Peary having meanwhile assisted m the transport of the 

 provisions. He succeeded at first in bringing them some 

 distance further in, about thirty miles from the coast, but 

 terrific and continuous equinoctial gales arrested the work. 

 However, the chief object of the autumn had been 

 accomplished — the entire provision depot was past the 

 long, killing land risings, and on comparatively level ice. 



During all the time thus occupied 

 by those who had to bring in the 

 provisions the other members of the 

 expedition were employed m various 

 ways, and particularly in shooting 

 reindeer, for winter was rapidly 

 approaching and we greatly needed 

 meat. Some seventy deer were 

 killed in September and October. 

 The autumn was unusually mild 

 and rainy, and in consequence very 

 uDplea.=ant. Not till the first days 

 of November did the ice cover 

 Bomdoin Bay, or just a month later 

 than in 1891. On October 26th we 

 said goodbye to the sun ; for four 

 long, dreary months it would remain 

 awiy. Our wmter life haa now 

 commenced ! 



On the 1st of November a catas- 

 trophe occurred, which might have 

 ended disastrously to all of us. An 

 enormous iceberg close to our house 

 fell into the sea, causing a huge 

 reactionary wave to wash over the 

 shore, and the water covered our 

 surroundings up to twenty feet 

 above the highest tidnl mark, tearing 

 away as it returned to the sea our 

 entire store of paraffin oil. These 



thirty barrels were destined to heat our house and cook our 

 food during the long winter nights. Luckily, we were able 

 to fish out all the barrels except fonr. wliicli were com- 

 pletely smashed, but some had sprung leaks, and the oil 

 wasted, which, however, was only discovered later on. After 

 this alarming event, it became necessary to reduce to a 



minimum the use of parafiSn for heating our dwelling, 

 and the much-talked-of electric light never put in an 

 appearance, so that we had our fair share of darkness, and 

 this did little to cheer the spirits of the ladies of our party. 



With the commencement of winter we were again 

 visited by our Eskimo friends, who assisted us most 

 indefatigably and cheerfully through thick and thin, and 

 often let us have meat for our dogs when their own starved. 



December was mostly employed in preparing for the 

 great sledge journey of the spring, and skins were dried, 

 cut up, and sewn into garments and sleeping-bags. 

 Sleighs, too, had to be made, as the three Norwegian ones 

 would not suffice for the work. We had no suitable wood, 

 but, fortunately, we had plenty of Norwegian "Ski" or 

 snow-shoes, and from these eight sledges were made, but 

 they were, of course, very faulty. A similar number were 

 made by another of our party from some seven-foot ash 

 deals, but they proved too short. We were really crippled 

 before we started, but, nevertheless, Peary did not lose 

 his cheerful courage. 



Christmas was celebrated in orthodox fashion, and like- 

 wise the New Year, which was entered upon with renewed 

 spirits of cheerfulness and energy. Frequent and long 

 journeys to the neighbouring Eskimo colonies were now 

 performed, in order to provide food for our South Green- 

 land dogs, of whom we still had forty. Several hunting 

 parties were likewise dispatched, and they hardly ever 

 returned empty-handed. At the end of -January I was 

 disx^atched on an expedition to the site of our old " Eedcliff 

 House " to search for coal, Peary having the year before 

 left there some hundreds-weight of this precious article ; 

 but all we could gather after hours of grubbing in the deep 

 snow was a sackful, though that was something, for 



E.-liimo ."^kin- Boats. 



during the next few days we were able to enjoy a tiny 

 fire in the ante-room. The glow, the heat, the joy, and 

 the cheeriness of those picture-telling nobs in the semi- 

 darkness of the Polar night ! The stove was made of two 

 barrels, with some sheets of corrugated iron and some 

 stones. 



