446 



The National Geographic Magazine 



opinion that it would be better to wait 

 another year, to see if the ice would again 

 reach normal conditions. I have there- 

 fore acted upon his advice and have taken 



the Laura for the year 1908 to again 

 make an attempt to go in at the Green- 

 land coast and reach King William 

 Land. 



NEAREST THE POLE 



The substance of an address to the National Geographic Society by Commander 

 Robert E. Peary, U. S. Navy, describing his explorations in ipo§-ipo6. 



TO many persons, even of more 

 than ordinary intelligence and 

 wide reading, all Arctic work is 

 an efifort to reach the Pole. 



To such the following facts will be of 

 interest : 



The incentive of the earliest northern 

 voyages was commercial, the desire of the 

 northern European nations to find a navi- 

 gable northern route to the fabled wealth 

 of the East. 



When the impracticability of such a 

 route was proven, the adventurous spirit 

 of Anglo-Saxon and Teuton found in the 

 mystery, the danger, the excitement, 

 which crystallized under the name North 

 Pole, a worthy antagonist for their fear- 

 less blood. 



The results of northern efforts have 

 been to add millions to the world's wealth, 

 to discover some of the most important 

 scientific propositions, and to develop 

 some of the most splendid examples of 

 manly courage and heroism that adorn 

 the human record. 



While these efforts have steadily cir- 

 cumscribed the area for new discoveries, 

 they have also ripened the time for the 

 final culmination of the work and the 

 closing of the chapter. 



Though the unknown area has steadily 

 decreased, there is still ample room in 

 the two or three million square miles of 

 yet unknown area for startling surprises 

 in geography and the natural sciences. 



If any proof of this were needed, it is 

 to be found in the directly contrary con- 

 ditions found by the last Peary Arctic 

 Club Expedition as compared with pre- 

 vious theories. 



Many and perhaps all of my friends in 

 this Society are aware that my last two 

 Arctic expeditions have been financed b}' 

 the Peary Arctic Club of New York, an 

 organization composed of prominent men 

 of New York, Brooklyn, Boston, and 

 Philadelphia, with Morris K. Jesup as its 

 President. 



SCIENTIFIC RESULTS OE THE LAST EXPEDI- 

 TION 



The point of view of Mr Jesup and his 

 associates in the club has been that Arctic 

 work today should combine in intimate 

 coordination two objects — the attainment 

 of the Pole as a matter of record and na- 

 tional prestige, and the securing of all 

 possible geographic, hydrographic, and 

 other scientific information from the un- 

 known regions about the Pole. 



And since the government has not con- 

 sidered it advisable to tmdertake the 

 work, the club gladly assumed it and 

 shares the resulting honor and scientific 

 material with the country and its 

 museums. 



What have been the results of this 

 broad view? 



To the popular mind has been given 

 the satisfaction of feeling that the Stars 

 and Stripes stand first, and that we pos- 

 sess a new world's record in a field in 

 which the most enlightened nations of 

 the world have been striving to emulate 

 each other for three centuries. 



To the geographer is given the satis- 

 faction of having his horizon greatly 

 widened in the western half of the polar 

 basin ; of being able to fill in annoying 

 blanks upon his charts, and of looking 



