EARLY YEAKS 
speed that the thought of recording the events 
of that part of the journey did not occur to 
me so forcibly as to compel me to pay heed 
to it, and that story was written aboard the 
ship while waiting for favorable conditions to 
sail toward home lands. 
It was in June, 1891, that I started on my 
first trip to the Arctic regions, as a member 
of what was known as the "North Greenland 
Expedition." Mrs. Peary accompanied her 
husband, and among the members of the ex- 
pedition were Dr. Frederick A. Cook, of 
Brooklyn, N. Y., Mr. Langdon Gibson, of 
Flushing, N. Y., and Mr. Eivind Astriip,| 
of Christiania, Norway, who had the honor of 
being the companion of Commander Peary in 
the first crossing of North Greenland — and 
of having an Esquimo at Cape York become 
so fond of him that he named his son for him ! 
It was on this voyage north that Peary's leg 
was broken. 
Mr. John M. Verhoeff, a stalwart young 
Kentuckian, was also an enthusiastic member 
of the party. When the expedition was ready 
to sail home the following summer, he lost his 
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