The mysterious eastern Arctic Ocean. 205 



Of the view Lieutenant Peary says: "Some 15 miles north- 

 east from where we stood these cliffs ended in a bold cape, just 

 beyond the fan-shaped face of the great glacier, and the shore 

 from there swept away to the eastward. AVest of us lay the 

 opening of the fiord Avhich had barred our northern advance. 

 Northwest stretched steep, red-broAvn bluffs with a flat foreshore 

 reaching to the water's edge. The resemblance of these bluffs 

 to the eastern shore of McCormick bay was ver}- striking. Close 

 at hand a single isolated ice cap crested these bluffs, but disap- 

 peared in the middle distance, and beyond that the shores which 

 stretched far away to the northeast were free of snow and the 

 summits free of ice caps. 



" The bay itself beyond the glacier face seemed perfectly 

 smooth, and far out in its center a clouded appearance showed 

 the beginning of the process of disintegration in the formation 

 of water pools upon the surface. Between the bold cape on the 

 right and the distant northern shore the white level of the sea ice 

 stretched out to meet the distant horizon over the mj^'sterious 

 eastern Arctic ocean." 



Observations for position were made, those for longitude being 

 based on equal altitudes, with the resulting latitude of 81° 37' 

 4" N, and a longitude (from map) of about 34° W. A cairn 

 was raised, in which were placed a record of the journey, a ther- 

 mometer, and copies of the New York S^in and Harper''s Weekly. 

 The national- flags belonging to the Philadelphia Academ}^ of 

 Natural Sciences and the National Geographic Societ}^ (the latter 

 flag presented by Miss Dahlgren) were displayed. The arctic 

 poppy and other flowers, purple and white, were present, to- 

 gether with the snowbunting. ]Musk-ox trails were frequent, 

 and five musk-oxen were killed. The return to McCormick bay 

 was made in nearly a straight line, and the main divide of the 

 inland ice was crossed at an elevation of 8,000 feet. The main 

 incidents of the return journey were an experience of the most 

 violent storm and the loss of several dogs, whereby the number 

 was reduced to five. The return journey occupied thirty-one 

 days. 



The journey of Lieutenant Peary is most extraordinary. Its 

 most important geographic result is the determination of a great 

 fiord opening eastward into the Greenland sea at a point some 

 200 miles north of the highest position reached on the eastern 

 coast of Greenland by any of Lieutenant Peary's predecessors. 



