452 FIELD WORK OF THE PEARY ARCTIC CLUB, 1898-1902. 



The character of the channel ice being- such that we were a1)le to 

 avoid the terrible ice foot whicli extends from here to Cape Lieber, 

 and ni}' dogs being still in good condition, I made a spurt from here 

 and covered the distance to Conger in one march, arriving about an 

 hour and a half after Henson and his party. 



I had covered the distance from Payer Harbor to Conger, some 300 

 miles, in twelve marches. 



Four days were spent at Conger overhauling sledges and harness, 

 drying and repairing clothing, and scouting the countr}^ as far as The 

 Bellows, in search of musk oxen. None were seen, but about 100 

 hares were secured in the four days. Temperature during this time from 

 —40° to —57° F. Seven Eskimos returned from here, taking with 

 them the instrvmients of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition and other 

 items of Government property abandoned here in 1883. 



On the morning of the 24th I started north with nine sledges. We 

 camped the tirst night at "Depot B.'' The next mai'ch I had counted 

 on making Lincoln Bay, but just before reaching Wrangell Bay a sud- 

 den, furious gale, w'ith blinding drift, drove us into camp at the south 

 point of the ba}'. Here we were storm bound during the 2()th, but 

 got away on the morning of the 27th and pushed on to Cape Union, 

 encountering along this .portion of the coast the steep side slopes of 

 hard snow, which arc so trying to men and sledges and dogs. 



Open water, the clouds over which we saw from Wrangell Bay Camp, 

 was about 100 yards bevond our igloo, and extended from there, as 1 

 judged, northward beyond Cape Rawson, and reached entirely across 

 the channel to the Greenland coast at Cape Brevoort, as in 1900. 



Fortunately, with the exercise of utmost care, and at the expense of 

 a few narrow Escapes and incessant hard work, we were able to work 

 our sledges along the narrow and villainous ice-foot to and around 

 Black Cape. 



The ice foot along this section of the coast was the same as was 

 found here b}" Egerton and Rawson in 1876 and Pavy in 1882, 

 necessitating the hewing of an almost continuous road; but a party of 

 willing, light-hearted Eskimos makes comparatively easy work of what 

 would be a slow and heart-breaking job for two or three white men. 

 Beyond Black Cape the ice foot improved in character, and I pushed 

 along to camp at the Alert's winter quarters. Simultaneously with 

 seeing the Alerfs cairn three musk oxen were seen a short distance 

 inland, which I went away after and secured. The animals were very 

 thin, and furnished but a scant meal for my dogs. 



One march from here carried us to Cape Richardson, and the next 

 under the lee of View Point, where we were stopped, and driven to 

 build our igloo with all possible speed, by one of the common arctic 

 gales. There were voung ice, pools of water, and a nearly continuous 

 water sky all along the shore. 



