The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-09-08

Peary in His Arctic Home.
Lieut.. PEARY could not have hoped for O
more suspicious beginning Of his new work
in Greenland. Remarkable journeys have
been made to the Smith Sound region. but
PEARYs last trip surpasses them all in the
celebrity with which he reached the site OF
his winter camp. after he had once struck
Greenland waters. and in the progress he
made In very few days toward putting
things to rights and securing a large sup
ply OF fresh meat for men and dogs. Not
an untoward incident occurred ON the way
every day was one OF large achievement.
and the prospects we're as bright as they
could be when the Falcon sailed for home.
The only thing that could be wished 9TH
erwise is the fact that the Falcon brings no
word OF hope for Mr. VRRHoEFF's friends.
Some OF Lieut.. PEARY's party last year had
a little suspicion that. after all. VERHoEFr
might have been in hiding and that this
years expedition would find him safe and
sound. PEARY did not share this Illusion.
and never doubted that his week OF thor
| ough search would have brought VERHoEFF
to light II he had been alive. The event
proves that PEARY was right. Natives who
| fingered long around the scene Of PEARY's
old camp last fall. and who lived all last win
ter near Mccormick Bay. saw and heard
nothing OF the missing man. There can be no
doubt now. that VERHoEFF lost his life In
August last year. probably by falling into
crevasse while crossing a glacier.
Lieut.. PEARY had arranged with the Da-
nish authorities to have a supply OF fur
clothing all ready for him at Godhavn. and
the agreement was fulfilled He will doubt
less supplement this stock with fur gar
ments cut out by the men OF his party and
sewed by native seamstresses. For some
time in the winter Of 1912. from two to four
native women were almost necessarily at
work plying their needles and threads.
slowed away against the wall under tier
Of hunks In PEARYs house. The explorer
found that the reindeer-skin clothing made
from skins procured at Mccormick Bay by
his hunters. more effectually protected his
men against Arctic cold than the clothing
Of Norway reindeer skins which he had
taken with him.
A few weeks ago. when idiotic dispatches
from st. Johns predicted the failure Of the
expedition because PEARY would reach Mel
vile Bay month later than In 1891. THE
SUN said he would reach the bay when it
was almost certain to be nearly free Of Ice.
and that he would probably make quick
passage across to his winter camp. He
made, In fact, the quickest transit. with one
exception. ever made Of this bay. which. a
month or two earlier. was doubtless packed
with Ice, 1t took him three weeks in July.
1891. to cross this stretch OF water. but
on July 81 OF this year he crossed 1t in just
fifty minutes more than day. The quickest
st ho Lo, ia
HAYES, late in August. In ffty-four hours:
by HALL. on the Polaris, late in August. in
twenty hours and forty-five minutes, the
best time on record by the MARES exped-
ton. late in July. In thirty-four hours; and
by GREEDY. on July s0-3l, in thirty-six hours.
PEARYs good luck Is worth mentioning. for
passages across Melville Bay like these are
OF rare occurrence. Even under apparently
favorable circumstances. vessels are likely
to be beset by rapidly closing ice foes and
imprisoned for months. as Sir LEOPOLD
MCCLINTocR was for all Of one winter.
Lieut.. PEARY arrived In Bowdoin Bay
with four times as many dogs as he OBJ
tanned during his entire sojourn in north
Greenland In 1922 He las not yet drawn
at all upon the resources of the native
friends among whom he is now living. and
who supplied all his draught animals be-
fore. No Smith Sound explorer ever got SO
many dogs together as PRARY now has at
command: and never had one such good luck
in securing, by few days work. a supply
OF dog food for an entire winter. Two years
ago he killed four walruses In his first water
hunt. This year. on the same grounds in
Whale Sound. he captured twenty-four in |
an afternoon. Whom darkness came. in the |
middle OF November. two years ago. PEARY's |
hunters had bagged little over thirty |
reindeer. This year seventeen reindeer re-
warded one nights hunt. In September. |
two years ago. his men made two vain |
attempts to struggle far up on the inland |
ice. to make cache OF supplies for the |
spring sledge journey. This year the In |
land ice is comparatively easy OF access.
from the more favorably situated camp. |
and. before the Falcon left. many OF the |
stores for the trip north had already been
placed on the Ice cap. and 1t was expected
to complete the work by Sept. l. II PEARY's
coming discoveries are In proportion to his
remarkable success thus far. great things
are In store for him in the White North.
When PEARY made his boat journey in
Ingleheld Gulf In August. last year, he
ooiSSeSe cho cip0 VI LILO piooChI hiCtiC
The photograph he made OF 1t shows a little
inlet between hills OF considerable height
and n tongue Of the inland ice extending
nearly to the waters edge at the head Of the
bay. Here. only a short distance from the
water, the house has been built. with the
desirable southern exposure which he could
not have at Red Cliff House. The house Is
not north of his old camp. as has been in
correctly reported, but east OF 1t. on the
northern shore OF Murchison Sound
A week ago the little colony were, doubt
less. well settled in their winter home. II
all has gone well. the hunting parties are
now afield. making up the quota OF seventy
five or eighty reindeer that PEARY expects
to stow away for winter use by the time
the long night comes. The explorer found.