SEVENTY-FIVE DAYS IN THE ARCTICS 



By Max Fleischman 



Life Member oe the National Geographic Society 



I HAVE so many times been asked 

 what caused me to form the idea 

 of spending the summer of 1906 

 north of the Arctic Circle that I feel im- 

 pelled to give a brief account of the rea- 

 sons which resulted in what proved to be 

 the most interesting cruise it has ever 

 been my privilege to enjoy. 



I believed that with a good stout ship, 

 properly equipped, a trip could be taken 

 in those regions with comparative safety. 

 I realized that it would be necessary to 

 have the ship stocked with eighteen 

 months' provisions, to guard against any 

 unforeseen exigencies or of being frozen 

 up in the ice of the far North. My 

 chances were good, I thought, providing 

 the ice conditions were in any way favor- 

 able, of getting into the east Greenland 



coast, making King William Land, and 

 of being able to return the same year. 



One fact, which I considered of 

 primary importance, that assisted in de- 

 ciding me to make the east coast of 

 Greenland my objective point was that 

 on Shannon Island and at another point 

 near there are two Arctic relief stations, 

 one established by the Baldwin-Ziegler 

 Expedition and the other by the Swedish 

 government under Nathorst. 



Other objects of my trip were as fol- 

 lows : 



To enter the Greenland coast near 

 Franz Josef Fjord; 



To attempt to secure live specimens of 

 musk-ox and polar bear ; 



To collect specimens of bird life and 

 study their food and habits of living; 



Photo from Col. Max Fleischman 



Polar Bear Crossing near Ice Fields 



