436 FIELD WORK OF THP: PEARY ARCTIC CLUB, 1898-1902. 



April 19. — My left foot had healed, though still too weak ftnd stiff 

 from long disuse for nie to inoYe without crutches. On this day I 

 started for Fort Conger with a party of 10, some 50 dogs, and 7 

 sledges loaded with dog food and supplies for return caches. 



April 23. — I met Henson returning with his party at Cape Law- 

 rence. From there 1 sent back m}^ temporary help and borrowed 

 dogs, and went on with a party of 7. including 5 natiYes. 



April 28. — We reached Conger. 



Jfay 4- — HaYing dried all our gear and repaired sledges, I started 

 for a reconnoissance of the Greenland northwest coast. I should haYe 

 started two daj^s earlier but for bad weather. Following a Yery ardu- 

 ous ice foot to St. Patricks Bay, I found the bay tilled with broken 

 pack ice covered with snow almost thigh deep. From the top of Cape 

 Murchison, with a good glass, no practicable road could be seen. The 

 following day I sent 2 men with empty sledges and a powerful team of 

 dogs to Cape Beechy to reconnoiter from its summit. Their report 

 was discouraging. Clear across to the Greenland shore, and up and 

 down as far as the glass could reach, the channel was tilled with 

 upheaved floe fragments, uninterrupted by young ice or large floes, 

 and covered with deep snow. 



Crippled as 1 was, and a mere dead weight on the sledge, 1 felt that 

 the road was impracticable. Had I been fit and in my usual place, 

 ahead of the sledges breaking the ice with m}^ snowshoes, it would 

 have been different. One chance remained — that of finding a passage 

 across to the Greenland side at Cape Lieber. 



Returning to Conger, I sent Henson and one Eskimo oft' immediatelv 

 on this reconnoissance, and later sent 2 men to Musk Ox Bay to look 

 for musk oxen. Two days afterward they returned reporting 16 musk 

 oxen killed, and Henson came in on the same day, reporting tlie con- 

 dition of the channel off' Capes Lieber and Cracroft the same as that 

 oft' Capes Beechy and Mirchison, and that they had been unable to 

 get across. I now gave up the Greenland trip, and perhaps it was 

 well that I did so, as the unhealed place on my right foot was begin- 

 ning to break down and assume an unhealthy appearance from its 

 severe treatment. As soon as the musk-ox skins and beef were 

 brought in, the entire party, except myself and one Eskimo, went to 

 the Bellows and Black Rock Vale for more musk oxen. Twelve were 

 killed here, and the skins and meat brought to Conger. Not believ- 

 ing it desirable to kill more musk oxen, and unable to do any travel- 

 ing north, I completed the work of securing the meat and skins 

 obtained; getting the records and private papers of the United States 

 International Expedition together; securing, as far as possible, collec- 

 tions and property; housing material and supplies still remaining 

 serviceable, and making the house more comfortable for the purposes 

 of my party. 



