RE A R } "S EX PL OR A TIONS IN 1898-1899 4 1 5 



matters practically, find in Peary the mental as well as physical traits, mak- 

 ing a combination as rare as the work he has undertaken, coupled with 

 a clear head, and a practical, definite correlation of means to ends, which 

 go far to secure the results desired. Peary will take the field next year, 

 barring unforeseen accidents, a thoroughly sound, rested, and well man, 

 in the very prime of condition, and can be counted on to make a record, 

 even if he does not fully attain his desire. If beaten in 1900, he will try 

 it again in 1901, and maybe again a year later. The very latest word is 

 the very gratifying one that the old Windward, battered and scarred from 

 her winter in the ice and stormy passage home, is still sound and sea- 

 worthy ; that the ship will be repaired, rebuilt, and refitted, and, under 

 an American flag and American master, will return to her contest with the 

 forces of the north, from which she will not come back unless victorious. 



H. L. Bridgman. 

 Brooklyn, N. Y. 



PEARY'S EXPLORATIONS IN 1898-1899 



"The Mission of the Diana," outlined in The National Geographic 

 Magazine for July (see p. 273), has been successfully carried out in every 

 detail under the able management of Mr H. L. Bridgman, Secretary of 

 the Peary Arctic Club. More than a year's supplies have been added to 

 the reserve stores of Peary and full accounts obtained of his important 

 explorations during the past twelve months. Thus far merely an out- 

 line of his discoveries has been published, but, as Mr Bridgman has stated 

 in the preceding article, a more detailed account will soon follow. 



Instead of reaching Sherard Osborn fiord, on the north coast of Green- 

 land, beyond the narrow channel which all sailing craft must take to 

 reach that part of the globe, Peary was obliged to winter in Kane basin, 

 about 50 miles north of Cape Sabine. His ship stayed in latitude 79°, 

 and not S2°, as he had hoped might be possible. Not having been able to 

 establish his base of sledging operations near Sherard Osborn fiord, he 

 nevertheless ventured northward during the winter four times to Fort' 

 Conger, the headquarters of the Greely expedition, a point equally near 

 the Pole, but on the west side of the channel. These long trips w-ere 

 made both for exploration and also to establish caches of supplies along 

 the west side of the channel leading to the north, so that they may be 

 available next spring and during the time the party is engaged in its 

 explorations next summer. These supplies and others that will be added 

 to them will enable Peary to begin his researches on the north coast of 

 Greenland whether or not the Windward is able to land her stoi'es at the 

 proposed base in Sherard Osborn fiord. 



In the south Peary discovered that the so-called Hayes sound, north- 

 wesl of Cape Sabine, is only an inlet or hay. It was supposed by many 

 that it. extended through to the Arctic ocean west of Ellesmere Land and 

 separated that country from Grinned Land on the north. Peary's discov- 

 ery proves that these regions are one and the same land, and he has 



