THE DISCOVERY OF THE POLE 



909 



Photo and Copyright by Underwood & Underwood 



AN ESKIMO, HIS WIFE, SONS, AND DAUGHTERS 



leads. Still further south we found 

 where the Captain had been held up by 

 an open lead and obliged to camp. For- 

 tunately, the movement of these leads 

 was simply open and shut, and it took 

 considerable water motion to fault the 

 trail seriously. 



While the Captain and Marvin, as was 

 found out later, and Borup had been de- 

 layed by open leads, we seemed to bear a 



patent charm and at no single lead were 

 we delayed more than a couple of hours. 

 Sometimes the ice was fast and firm 

 enough to carry us across ; sometimes a 

 short detour, sometimes a brief halt for 

 the lead to close, sometimes an impro- 

 vised ferry on an ice-cake, kept the trail 

 without difficulty down to the tenth out- 

 ward march. 



Igloos there disappeared completely, 



