Peary's Twenty Years Service in Arctics 453 



the largest known meteorite of the world. 

 It is an irregular mass, with maximum 

 measurements of 6, 7.6, and 11.2 feet and 

 weighs nearly 100 tons. 



HIS FIRST CAMPAIGN TO REACH THE 

 NORTH POLE 



In June, 1898, he left New York for 

 a four years' expedition against the Pole. 

 His ship, the Windivard, unable to force 

 its way into Kennedy Channel, wintered 

 near Cape Hawkes. In September of that 

 autumn Peary determined the continuity 

 of Ellesmere and Grinnell Lands. 

 Through the utilization of the Etah Es- 

 kimo he planned to make Fort Conger his 

 base for polar work. Adopting the un- 

 precedented and dangerous policy of win- 

 ter sledging, his trip to Conger in De- 

 cember badly crippled him and nearly cost 

 his life, his feet being very badly frozen. 

 Eight toes were amputated March 13, on 

 his return to the Windward, yet he took 

 the field in a few weeks. In July, cross- 

 ing Ellesmere Land and passing over in- 

 land ice at an elevation of 7,000 feet, he 

 discovered a fjord (Cannon Bay) run- 

 ning 50 miles to the northwest, with the 

 north shore of Greely Fjord in the back- 

 ground, and probably Heiberg Land. 



The Windzmrd returning to the United 

 States, Peary wintered (1899-1900) at 

 Etah, from which he made his first north- 

 ern effort. Leaving Etah in March, he 

 started from Fort Conger April 11, tak- 

 ing the Greenland trail of Lockwood and 

 Brainard. May 8 Peary passed Lock- 

 wood's farthest, 83° 24' N., and reached 

 the most northern land in about 83° 35' 

 N. Striking northward over the polar 

 pack, Peary found "frightful going, frag- 

 ments of old floes, ridges of heavy ice 

 thrown up to heights of 25 to 50 feet, 

 crevasses and holes masked by snow, the 

 whole intersected by narrow leads of 

 open water." 



Finding that the pack was disin- 

 tegrated, he turned back in May, 1900, 

 from 83° 54' N., nothing but ice being 

 visible to the north from the summit of 

 a floeberg 50 feet high. Following the 

 coast of Hazen Land southeast to 82° 45' 



N., 24° W., he turned back about 125 

 miles from Independence Bay. 



Though the North Pole was not 

 reached, yet the northern end of the 

 Greenland Archipelago had been rounded 

 and its eastern coast determined to Cape 

 Independence. This journey practically 

 completes the outlines of Greenland. 



It is extremely interesting to learn that 

 this northernmost land of the world is re- 

 plete with animal and vegetable Hfe. 

 Bears, wolves, hares, and musk-oxen 

 make it their habitat. Of the extreme 

 northeastern coast Peary says : "It is in- 

 habited by a fauna practically the same 

 as that of other Arctic lands several hun- 

 dred miles farther south." 



The discoveries of Peary and Sverdrup 

 confirm the opinion advanced by Greely, 

 that the Eskimo, musk-ox, and wolf have 

 reached east Greenland from the Parry 

 Archipelago via Greely Fjord, Lake 

 Hazen, and the ice-free regions of ex- 

 treme northern Greenland. Traces of 

 Eskimo life cover the greater part of the 

 route, and Peary believes that summer 

 would disclose others. 



Returning south, Peary fixed his win- 

 ter quarters at Fort Conger and at- 

 tempted the Cape Hecla route in 1901, 

 but the northern advance in April was 

 abandoned at Lincoln Bay. His base was 

 transferred the next winter to Payer 

 Harbor. 



Peary was not dismayed, and starting 

 in February, 1902, by twelve wonderful 

 marches reached Conger. Leaving, Feb- 

 ruary 24, 1902, with nine sledges, he was 

 stormbound a day at Lincoln Bay. In 

 rounding Cape Henry he struck the 

 worst ice-foot he ever encountered. By 

 the slipping of a sledge two men nearly 

 lost their lives, they dangling over the 

 crest of an ice-pack precipice some 50 

 feet in height. The sledges had to pass 

 a shelf of ice less than a yard wide, with 

 the precipitous face of a cliff on one side, 

 and on the other sea-floes 75 feet below. 



Peary, having already traveled 400 

 miles in a month, with temperature rang- 

 ing from -38° to -57°, left Cape Hecla 

 April 6 with seven men and six dog 



