INTRODUCTION 
/^NE of the first questions which Com- 
^-^ mander Peary was asked when he re- 
turned home from his long, patient, and finally 
successful struggle to reach the Pole was how 
it came about that, beside the four Esquimos, 
Matt Henson, a Negro, was the only man to 
whom was accorded the honor of accompany- 
ing him on the final dash to the goal. 
The question was suggested no doubt by 
the thought that it was but natural that the 
positions of greatest responsibility and honor 
on such an expedition would as a matter of 
course fall to the white men of the party 
rather than to a Negro, To this question, 
however. Commander Peary replied, in sub- 
stance : 
"Matthew A. Henson, my Negro assistant, 
has been with me in one capacity or another 
since my second trip to Nicaragua in 1887. 
I have taken him on each and all of my ex- 
peditions, except the first, and also without 
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