176 THE SIEGE OF THE NORTH POLE 



Robeson Channel prevented further advance. Conger 

 was again reached on the 9th. 



On the 10th October, Lockwood established a small 

 depot near Cape Baird. On the 13th September a large 

 pack of wolves made their appearance, and for some time 

 they were a source of danger. Greely decided to attempt 

 to poison them, and ultimately succeeded in poisoning 

 four. The rest then disappeared for that season. 



On 17th September the first birthday occurred, and 

 the occasion was taken to inaugurate a practice, which 

 was afterwards adhered to at Conger, of exempting the 

 man from duty and of allowing him to select the dinner. 



The temperature fell below zero on the 20th September, 

 which Greely believed was the earliest date on record. 

 The first star at midnight was seen on 9th September, 

 and so extremely rapid is the approach of darkness in all 

 very high latitudes that on the 8th October lamps had 

 to be used throughout the twenty-four hours, except for 

 an hour at midday. 



Scientific observations were conducted regularly and 

 very carefully at Conger during the whole stay of the 

 expedition. Some idea of the amount of labour involved 

 may be conveyed by the statement that the number of 

 observations recorded daily was as follows : Meteorological, 

 234 ; tidal, 28 ; magnetical, 264 — aggregating 526 daily. 

 On what were called term-days the number of magnetical 

 observations was increased to over 1200. Pendulum, time, 

 and sound experiments were also made. 



As regards food-supply, the expedition was fortunate 

 in being able to obtain sufficient musk-meat to enable 

 each man to have 1 lb. daily during two years at Conger. 

 Condensed milk, butter, and oatmeal had been taken 

 in large quantities, and there was a liberal supply of 

 cheese, macaroni, and condensed eggs. They had also a 

 large amount of fruits and vegetables. Tomatoes were 



