310 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Donald B. MacMillan 



AK-KOM-MO-DING-WA EATING MEAT IN THE USUAL MANNER OE THE SMITH 



SOUND NATIVE 



There are no plates and no forks ; consequently the meat is grasped in the hand, shoved into 



the mouth, and cut off at the lips. 



the Scott starvation party, who, realizing 

 that his presence meant the loss of all, 

 calmly remarked to his commander, "I 

 am going out for a little while ; I may 

 not come back" ? 



With the dropping of the tent flap and 

 the disappearing of that stumbling frost- 

 bitten form into the swirling snows of 

 the Antarctic ice-cap, there ended the 

 most pathetic and the most heart-stirring 

 scene ever enacted upon the stage of 

 Polar work. All honor to such a hero ! 



Every white man realized what the 

 success of this trip meant to Peary, and 

 each man knew that the sooner he re- 

 turned to land after he had finished his 

 work, the better the chances of Peary 

 reaching his goal. 



When we heard the words, "You are 

 to go back tomorrow," let me emphasize 

 the fact that every man did so cheerfully 

 and willingly, knowing that it was for the 

 best interests of the expedition. No man 

 expected to go at the start and no man 

 complained at the finish. 



Peary owed it to himself, to his friends, 

 to his country, to rid himself of all en- 

 cumbrances, of all superfluous material, 

 and strip for action. It was his fight 

 now, not ours ; ours only just as long as 

 we were needed. 



And the negro ? He was indispensable 

 to Peary and of more real value than the 

 combined services of all four white men. 

 With years of experience equal to that 

 of Peary himself, an expert dog-driver, 



