PEARY'S EXPEDITION (1891) 279 



shell, separated by an air-space, formed by the frames of 

 the house, and varying from 10 inches at the sides to over 

 3 feet in the centre of the roof. 



On the outside of the frames was attached the outer 

 air-tight shell composed of a sheathing of closely fitting 

 boards and two thicknesses of tarred paper. To the 

 inside of the frames was fastened the inner shell, composed 

 of thick trunk boards, and made air-tight by pasting all 

 the joints with heavy brown paper. This inner shell was 

 lined throughout with heavy blankets. 



To still further protect it, a wall was built entirely 

 around the house, about 5 feet distant from it. The 

 foundation of this wall was composed of stones, turf, and 

 empty barrels. Above this, the wooden boxes containing 

 tinned supplies were piled in regular courses in such a 

 way that the contents could easily be reached. From the 



top of these, canvas was stretched to the side of the house 



so as to form a corridor. 



When the snow came, a wall of this was built outside 



of the other, and the roof of the house was also thickly 



covered with snow. 



On the 27th July, Peary was taken ashore, strapped to 



a plank, and placed in a tent near the site of the house, 



so that he might supervise the work. 



The Kite departed for the south on the 30th July, and 



Peary and his party were left to their own resources. 

 Near at hand rose cliffs of a reddish colour, and 



this fact induced Peary to name his house " Red Cliff 



House. 1 '' Its position was found to be 77° 40' north 



latitude, and 70° 40' west longitude. It was therefore 



about half-way between the Arctic Circle and the North 



Pole. 



On the 12th August, Dr. Cook, Verhoeff, Astrup, and 



Gibson were sent to Herbert, Northumberland, and 



Hakluyt Islands. They left provisioned for fourteen 



