The Portland daily press., 1892-09-13

Y ~ ~ ~
MRS. JoSEHHINE D. PEARY.
so full of ice that the expedition were
forced to land at point further north,
although SO near that on the ordinary
map the distance would not show appre-
Gladly.
The party took with them
A Small House,
which was erected and provisioned be-
fore the Kite returned. The house was
built, to be accurate about locality. on
the slope of a promonotory stretching
southwestward into Murchison Sound,
bounding Mccormick Bay on the south
east, and known as Cape Cleveland.
This camp was thought at the time to be
very conveniently situated with refer
ence to the great interior ice cap which is
supposed to cover Northern Greenland
as it does the southern portions.
This ice cap terminates at the
coast line, its edge taking the form
of a precipice or steep mountain side.
The height of this precipitous ascent
was about 2400 feet in the vicinity of
Peary's camp, and seemed favorable for
climbing although there were undoubted-
ly troublesome crevasses in it. One of
the best of the Eskimo tribes dwells in
this vicinity, and reindeer and wild fowl
abound. The Peary camp was located
only few miles south of the spot
where
Mr.. Sonntag, the Lamented Astronomer.
of Hayes's expedition, broke through
the young ice in December, 1860, and
died two days later of chill and exposure
with no friend but Eskimo Hans to wit
ness his last moments. Sonntag was on
the way to visit the Eskimos who have
been Peary's near neighbors. He de-
sired to buy dogs of them to replace the
teams that Hayes had lost by disease.
Peary was unable to buy dogs in South
Greenland, but there is little doubt that
he could secure the teams he needed
| from the natives here.
| The house in which the expedition
spent last winter was light 12x20 struc-
| ture Inside measurement with double
| walls enclosing a ten-inch air space.
| There was a triangular air space between
| the ceiling of the room and the roof
sheathing and the room had three layers
| of tarred paper between them and the eX-
| terror air. The walls of the rooms were
| hung with blankets and thus Mrs. Peary's
| boudoir was petitioned off from the rest
of the establishment. The house was
surrounded by wall of stone, turf, and
snow as high as the caves, leaving a
narrow passage entirely around the
house, and during the winter this space
and the roof of the house itself was in
tended to be covered in with thick
| layer of snow.
To this house Lieutenant Peary was
| carried, and there he had to spend the
| months while his leg was healing. When
the Kite returned it was thought that the
| leg would be all right in three months,
or by the first of October, 1891. AS the
real work of exploration was not to be-
| gin until the spring of 1892, the outlook
was that the accident would not interfere
with the work. The leg was broken
July II, 1891, and the spring sledging
could hardly begin before nine months
| from that date.
The programme which was laid out
was to use the fall months, after the
| house was built in
Hunting for a Winters Supply of Meat,
examining the features of the adjacent
country, and especially of the great,
rough edge of the ice-cap, and it's inland
surface, over which the advance north
ward was to be made. 1t was antici-
pated that in the course of this recon-
noissance would be carried across the
great tongue of the inland ice covering
Prudhoe land to the southern angle of
Humboldt Glacier, and an advance depot
for the main sledge journey established
there.
The winter months, when there is one
long night of several months, with no
sun, when the magnificent auroras that
only Arctic regions know, play across
the heavens with their remarkable brill
fancy, was to be occupied in making and
fitting sledges, clothing and all travelling
equipment and in snowshoe and skier
practice. The plan was that in the spring
of 1892 four OF five of the party would
start over the inland ice and move some
distance north, leaving the remainder to
keep the house. The advance party
would establish depot, and from this
depot two or three of the party would
push on with full sledges, while the re-
mainder would return with light sledges
to the house. The advance party of two
or three would push forward a proper
distance and then establish another
depot of supplies, whence the final stretch
would be made to determine the north
ern coast of Greenland. This last
stage of the journey was to be
made by two men. the strongest
of the party. 1t was not expected
that they would have to go more
than 200 miles beyond the last depot and
| the whole distance that the party would
go from the house was expected to be
about 600 or 1000 miles. Lieutenant
Peary expected to fine the surface of the
interior ice cap so hard and smooth that
the expedition could make Is or 20 miles
day.
| Peary well understood the probable
Nature of the journey
as he had once before penetrated the in
terror of Greenland in the region of Disko
Island. That was in 1886. AT that time
| he was accompanied by one companion,