FIELD WORK OF THE PEARY ARCTIC CLUB, 1898-1902. 455 



series of veiy small l>ut extremely heavy and rugiied old floes, the 

 snow on them still deeper and softer than on the southern side of the 

 lead. At the end of a sixteen-hour day I called a halt, thouo-h we 

 were only 2 or 3 miles north of the big- lead. 



During the first portion of the next maivh we passed over frag- 

 ments of very heavy old floes, slowl}' moving eastward. Frequently 

 we were obliged to wait for the pieces to crush close enough together 

 to let us pass from one to the other. Farther on I was compelled to 

 bear away due east by an impracticable area, extending west, north- 

 west, north, and northeast as far as could be seen, and just as we had 

 rounded this and were bearing away to the north again we were 

 brought up V)y a lead some 50 feet wide. From this on one day was 

 much like another, sometimes doing a little better, sometimes a little 

 worse, but the dail}" advance, in spite of our best efforts, steadily 

 decreasing. Fog and stormy weather also helped to dela}' us. 



I quote from my journal for April 21: 



The game is off. My dream of sixteen years is ended. It cleared during the 

 night and we got under way this morning. Deep snow. Two small old floes. Then 

 came another region of old rubble and deep snow. A survey from the top of a pin- 

 nacle showed this extending north, east, and west, as far as could be seen. The two 

 old floes over which we had just come are the only ones in sight. It is impracti- 

 cable, and I gave the order to camp. 1 have made the best fight I knew. I l)elieve 

 it has been a good one. But I can not accomplish the impossible 



A few hours after we halted, the ice to the north commenced like 

 the sound of heavy surf, and continued during our stay at this camp. 

 Evidently the floes in that direction were crushing together under the 

 influence of the wind, or, what was perhaps more probable, from the 

 long continuation of the noise, the entire pack was in slow motion to 

 the east. A clear day enabled me to get observations which showed 

 my latitude to be 84° 17' 27" north, magnetic variation 99° west. I 

 took some photos of the camp, climbed and floundered through the 

 broken fragments and waist-deep snow for a few hundred yards north 

 of the camp, gave the dogs a double ration, then turned in to sleep, if 

 possible, for a few hours preparatory to returning. 



We started on our return soon after midnight of the 21st. It was 

 very thick, wind from the west, and snowing heavily. I hurried our 

 departure in order to utilize as much of our tracks as possible before they 

 were obliterated. It was ver}- diflicult to keep the trail in the uncertain 

 light and driving snow. We lost it repeatedly, when we would ])e 

 obliged to quarter the surface like bird dogs. On reaching the last lead 

 of the upward march, instead of the open water which had interrupted 

 our progress then, our tracks now disappeared under a huge pressure 

 ridge, which I estimated to be from To to 100 feet high. Our trail 

 was faulted here by the movement of the floes, and we lost consider- 

 able time in picking it up on the other side. This was to me a trying 



SM 1903 30 



