PEARY'S EXPEDITION (1891) 281 



camp by a snowstorm and high wind. On the 10th 

 they advanced 1 mile by noon, and as there was no 

 prospect of better sledging, they deposited one of the 

 sledge-loads on a nunatak at an elevation of 2600 feet 

 above sea-level, and returned to Red Cliff without their 

 sledges or sleeping-gear. 



On 22nd September, Peary sent Astrup and Gibson 

 back to the Inland Ice to study the condition of travel as 

 far north-east as possible. They dragged their sledges 

 five days, and attained an altitude of 4600 feet ; but owing 

 to snow-squalls, high winds, and hard hauling, they then 

 decided to return. 



During October many Eskimo arrived at Red Cliff, 

 and from this time onwards various parties were coming 

 and going all through the winter. Some came from Cape 

 York, nearly 200 miles away. Several of the women 

 were engaged to make fur clothing for the party. 



During the winter Peary kept his party busy making 

 sledges, odometers, and various other articles required for 

 the spring sledge-journey. 



Peary devised and cut the patterns for the suits and 

 sleeping-bags. These were made from the skins of the 

 deer shot by Peary's men. The skins were stretched and 

 dried at Red Cliff, and the chewing was done by the 

 Eskimo women. This latter process makes the skins 

 thoroughly soft and pliable. A skin is folded with the 

 hair inside, and is chewed along the fold ; then another 

 fold is made, and the process is repeated until the whole 

 skin has been carefully chewed. After this, it is scraped 

 and worked with a blunt instrument. It takes two women 

 about a day to chew a big buck-skin, and they usually 

 require to give their jaws a rest every alternate day. 



Peary took a series of photographs of seventy-five 

 Eskimo, and Dr. Cook took the anthropometrical measure- 

 ments. It may here be mentioned that Peary's photo- 



