Peary's Work in 1900 and 1901 361 



-v\^as spent in hunting and obtaining the 

 necessar}^ fresh meat for men and dogs. 

 So diligently was this work prosecuted 

 that it was not suspended on the ap- 

 proach of Arctic night, and hunting 

 parties were actually in the field during 

 every moon of the winter. Game, prin- 

 cipally musk oxen, was found much 

 more abundant in the I^ake Hazen coun- 

 try, thirt}' or forty miles westward of 

 Fort Conger, than in its immediate vi- 

 cinity, and it proved more feasible, there- 

 fore, to subsist the dogs where the meat 

 was killed than to pack it across the 

 country to the coast. Snow igloos were 

 built, and in these Peary and his hunt- 

 ers practically spent most of the winter, 

 the rations of the hunters being sup- 

 plemented from the supplies found at 

 Conger. In all, nearh^ 200 musk oxen 

 were killed and either consumed b}' the 

 expedition or packed for its later de- 

 mands. 



Peary, accompanied, as in the previ- 

 ous year, by Henson and five Eskimo, 

 left Conger April 5, 1901, for the north 

 b}'^ the way of Cape Hecla ; but after 

 some ten days' march along the ice both 

 the men and dogs proved to be out of 

 condition and unfit for the most arduous 

 work certainly ahead of them. Unwill- 

 ing to risk the success of the under- 

 taking with an inadequate force, or to 

 imperil the lives of any of his part}', 

 Peary retraced his steps and returned 

 in good order and without loss to Fort 

 Conger. I^ate in April, with his entire 

 force, Pear}^ retreated southward to 

 open, if possible, communication with 

 the club's steamer of 1900, from which 

 nothing had been heard. The Wmd- 

 ivard, fast in her winter quarters at 

 Pa3'er Harbor, near Cape Sabine, with 



Mrs. Pear}'- and Miss Peary on board, 

 prisoners in the ice for nearlj^ eight 

 months, was reached Ma}^ 6, and in her 

 Peary made his headquarters until the 

 auxiliar}' ship of 1901 should arrive. 



Open water came early at Cape Sabine, 

 and July 3 the Windzvard extricated 

 herself from the ice and, crossing to the 

 east side of Smith Sound, devoted July 

 to a successful hunt for walrus in Ingle- 

 field Gulf to provide food for natives 

 and dogs during the fieldwork of 1902. 

 One hundred and twenty-five were 

 captured and landed at Cape Sabine, 

 the Windward recrossing the sound to 

 Etah, Peary's headquarters of 1899- 

 1 900, where she awaited the Erik, which 

 arrived on August 4, fourteen days from 

 Sj'dney, C. B. After several weeks of 

 further preparation at Etah, the Erik 

 carried Pear}^ across Smith Sound and 

 landed him and his equipment and sup- 

 plies on the south side of Herschel 

 Ba}', ten miles south of Cape Sabine, his 

 headquarters for next winter. 



Pearj-'s winter arrangements at Cape 

 Sabine insure comfort, and, with an 

 ample supply of provisions pushed along 

 the route to Fort Conger, he expects to 

 take the field with the returning light 

 of 1902, fully rested and in the best pos- 

 sible condition. 



During the entire two years since he 

 had been heard from Peary's health was 

 excellent, and the accident to his feet 

 at Fort Conger, in 1899, caused him but 

 slight inconvenience and in nowise im- 

 paired his efficiency in the field. Dur- 

 ing the autumn he expects to make an 

 extensive reconnaissance of the interior 

 and the western coast of Ellesmere Eand, 

 with a strong probability of discovering 

 natives hitherto unknown to white men. 



