The record-union., 1892-11-12
In AN ARCTIC SAHARA.
Peary's Graphic Description of a
Trip in Greenland.
sledging Through Almost impossible
Snows-W1d Panorama In Land
Bluffs of a Great Glacial Basin.
Lst. Louis Globe-pemoerat.l

I44C ldAlSL lldIb Ol bI6 IIdICn Vi JUNO
Sth had been through threatening
weather, the sky overcast, the distant
land dark and indistinct, and the peculiar
light over the inland sea which made it
impossible to distinguish its relief. l
knew, however, not only from my ane-
roid, but from the way the sledge trav
eled, that we were descending quite rap
idly, and this, with the occurrence of sew
eral bare patches Of bare blue ice, caused
Inc to hesitate, and finally call a halt on
the completion of the twenty-first mile,
though we could easily have accomplished
four or five miles more. The experiences
of the next two weeks showed the wis
dom of my cautiousness, and that it
would have been much better if had
had a premonition of trouble still earlier
in the day. We had hardly made camp
and finished our dinner when the gather
lng storm broke upon us, and once more
we had to endure Imprisonment, Astrup
under the tarpulln in lee OF the sledge,
myself ia the little excavation, half COW
cred with a sail, which we called our
kitchen.
2 For TWO days the wind howled above
us down the slope toward the distant
land and the binding drifts of snow
Missed and whirled past our shelter.
W hen the storm ceased and we crawled
out of the drifts in which both ourselves
and our sledges We're buried, | saw at a
glance that we were right on the southern
edge Of the central trough of the glacier
basin. The descent to this consisted al
most entirely of blue ice, swept clean by
the furious wind, and so steep that our
sledges would have been unmanageable.
The opposite side rose in crevassed and
steep-sided ice-waVes, unscalable for our
heaVy-loaded sledges. As far as the glass
could reach across the glacier basin to the
northeast the creVasseS and patches OF
blue ice continued; east and south steep
Icy slopes, but fortunately free of crew
Ices, rose above us. 1t was evident there
was but one thing to do, viz: to climb
those cliffs to the southeast, deviating to
wlndward as it were, out of the reefs and
OH the lee shore on which we found our
selves.
1t took two entire days of the hardest
and most discouraging work of the entire
journey to eXtricaue ourselves from the
trap into which we had fallen, and at the
end OF the two days we had lost fifteen
mlles OF our hard-earned northing. Steep
blue slopes, which had TO be scaled in the
teeth of a furious head wind, strained
sledges and dogs, bruised and tired
Astrup and myself with constant falls,
and necessitated the utmost care to pre-
Vent all from being swept into the glacier
below. All last, however, we regained
The unbroken snoW-clad nights of the in
land, and never did l appreciate more
fully the old German song, "Auf dem
hohen lst freiheit." Once more we could
set our course ana keep it. In this work
Nalegakooak, my best dog and king of
the team, received sprain which re-
suited in my losing him four days later.
Here, too, lost my spyglass in a crew
asse and narrowly escaped the loss of
Lion and Pan, two of my best dogs, in
another crevasse. Both fell till their
traces stopped them. and then hung sus-
pended until hoisted out. Once back on
the upper level of the island, 5000 feet
above the sea, and with clear weather to
help me, could make out the geography
of the surface, and could see the depres-
sion of the glacier basin still sweeping
away to the eastward.
IN AN ARCTIC FOG.
Bearing away to the eastward until I
could round this depression | once more
started northeast. l soon brought M.
however, by another group of enormous
crevasses. 90 to 100 feet in width. extend
ing across my course and, as luck would
have 1t, just as | reached therea dense fog
swept up the glacier basin from the coast,
shroudlng the crevasses and ourselves in
light which made it dangerous to ad-
vance in any direction. The only thing
TO do was to wait until this cleared away
Then half hour's 5 reconnaissance enabled
me to flank the crevasses and proceed
on my course again. By this time Astrup
and myself had named the glacier basin
which had caused us so much trouble the
Bottomless Pit, and had grown to hate
the sight of the land. l made up my mind
now, in order to avoid further delay and
annoyance from those great glacier basins.
TO strike still further into the interior so
as to avoid them completely. In attempt
ing to carry out this plan, however, 1
found them now increasing in depth so
rapidly, and the surface of the inland ice
rising at such a steep grade as | advanced
into the interior, that | began to waver in
my decision, and finally gave up in favor
OF a more northerly course.
We had hardly made four miles in this
direction when once more the big sledge.
strained and weakened by the rough
work of the last eight days, broke down
again and we lost an entire day in repair
ing its load. The first drop in tempera-
ture was eagerly seized upon to advance
again, and with Astrup and myself as
sisting, and with the dog at one sledoe
We succeeded with double banking in ad-
Vanclng SIX and a quarter miles The
following day the going was much better.
but hardly had we got Strengthened out
before the land, this time in reality the
shores of Sherard Osborne, rose into view
ahead of us and once more l found nv
self compelled to deflect to the northeast
and then to the east. Night found ms
with sixteen and q half miles to our credit
and another great glacier basis vet to be
weathered. An idea of the next day can
perhaps be best obtained from an extract
from my journal:
Another discouraging day within
sight of the baleful shores of this Arctic
Sahara, but we are on the nights once
more, for good, hope, and l also trust
free from further Obstacles If thara 10
any truth in the superstition of the evil
eye the coasts of this inland ice surely
have evil eyes. Just as long as the black
ellis peer up at US over the round of the
ice cap just so long are we beset with
crevasses, slippery ice hummocks. howl
ing wind storms, furious drifts and fogs
The dogs seem possessed with devils, the
sledge and odometer break, some item or
other OF our equipment is sure to be lost,
and everything seems to go wrong Once
out of its sight we find summer weather.
light winds, little drift-in word, peace
and comfort. The intolerable drift last
night gave us no chance to sleep COM
fortably, as it beat under and through
every minute aperture of the tarpaulin,
and melted as it fell on our faces and
clothing. One of my best dogs, Castor.
was dead lame in one leg and unable to
pull, and the traces were fearfully tangled
and frozen into the drift at the hitching
post"
SEEKING FOR SNOW BRIDGES.
We had advanced but eight miles when
we found ourselves hemmed in by a Sc
ries of huge concentric crevasses. The
remainder of the day was spent in recon-
noitering for safe snow bridges by which
they could be crossed This could he
done only in q southeasterly direction.
and night found us further south than we
were III the morning. Once two of my