The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-01-18
NEAREST. THE POLE.
Lieutenant Robert E. PearY,
U. S. n, Tells of His
Famous Ice Journey.
THE TABERNACLE WELL FILLED.
How the World Looks Under the
Ei~ghty-third Parallel-Esqui-
maux Etiquette.
THE TABERNACLE WELL FILLED.

1t was refreshing to sit in the Taber-
nacle last night and hear Lieutenant
Robert E. Peary, U. S. N. tell the story
of the great Arctic expedition that bears
his name. He told about weather colder
han our present cold wave, and snow
that stays on the ground longer. When
people come in with blue noses and
frozen ears. 1t is comforting to be told
about snow piled a mile higher than the
mountain tops. and pack ice that can
catch a whaler and hold it for months. 1t
is a sweet and consoling contrast that
gives one courage to go out afterward
and wait for a car on a freezing corner,
secure in the thought that there is some
thing worse somewhere.
There were few seats unoccupied last
night when Lieutenant Peary made his
entrance. There is little in his appear
ance that would, at first glance, indicate
the most daring of modern Arctic explor-
ers. OF slender build. with athletic wiri-
ness and a QUICK direcIness of motion,
there is a boyish air about the lecture T
that makes it very hard to guess his age.
His face bears nc sign of un-
due exposure. hardly more tanned
boarding school boy. The forehead and
eyes alone show the original genius Of the
man. the former unusually high and
massive, the latter almost piercing in
their dill ect glance. This is the man who
planned and conducted the expedition
which accomplished an overland journey
across the untraversed cap OF Northern
Greenland, and planted the fag:of the
United States, less thar five degrees from
the pole, the northern-most point yet
reached by man.
THE EVERLASTING ICE A
Lieut.. Peary introduced his subject
by a brief description of Greenland's
situation with regard to North America
and the pole. illustrated by maps thrown
upon the screen. BY the aid of one OF
these, he explained that the greater part
of Greenland is covered by q permanent
''ice-cap," which extends over all the
interior of the island, leaving but a mar
row rocky strip around the edges, scanned
with fjords. which are filed with snow
mutation of snow for centuries has filled
the valleys of the interior to a lie vel with
the mountain tops, and then spread over
all a mass of icy snow that forms a huge
table land uniting the mountain chains
ON the east and west coasts, and reaching
a height OF from six to ten thousand feet
above the sea level. This unique for
nation wal shown by a profile map of
the island across from Disko Bay to Franz
Joseph Sound.
The KITE" a whaler of the old FASH
ioned sort. which bore the Peary party
nOrthward. left June 6, 1891. bearing with
har the leader. and his devoted wife. Mrs.
Joseph Diebitsch-Peary. the only white
woman who has ever dared the perlls of
an arctic voyage. DR.. F. A. Cook. Lieut..
Peary's faithful companion, Eiwind
Astrup, Langdon Gibson and John I.
Verhoef. The first photograph shown
was a snapshot of Captain Richard Pike
In command of the 'Kite."a bluff old
sea dog, with a world OF experience IN
Polar seas. standing on the bridge giving
orders to Dunphy, the first mate. Tim,
the imam at the wheel" appeared, from
his picture, to be beyond fear of any
thing, but it appeared that on the return
voyage, a bag of archaeological remains
Observation-Disclosures emptied at his
feet. Oh which account he saw ghosts of
decd natives every night. and finally
abandoned the job. An exceptionally
fine view of the Kite gave a good idea of
the method of building an Arctic whaler,
the short, stout hull, the iron boW-cap,
and. perched high 0 the rigging, the
curious "crow's nest" an observatory,
wheuce the commanding officer watches
and directs the vessels course. Passing
Godhavn, the capital of Nothern Green
land, the lecturer showed a picture of the
famous Upernavik, "thes northermost
tow of the world" although IL is
marked on the map with the same little
dot and circle that stands for Boston or
Baltimore or New York. this Is all there
is OF ii" sand Lieutenant Peary. showing
a waste of rocky shore. al church, the
Governors house. the Assistant
Governors house and the minister's
house only these and nothing
more. Up to the second of July, the
kite" had found no trouble with ice,
but on that day the treacherous pack
ice" closet around it in Melville Bay.
holding it prisoner for three weeks. Dur
ing this time Lieutenant Peary broke his
leg, an injury that would have put a stop
to the expedition. had not the commander
enough pluck for ten men. sc Mrs. Peary
nursed him back to comfort, again. and
by the twenty-fourth OF July, he was
ready to go into winter quarters al Red
cliffe House, on the shore Of Mccormick
Bay. This piece of Spartan courage the
lecturer passed over with the utmost
matter-of-fact air.
CHARTERED NEAR THE POLE.
Redcl. fife House, SO named from the
sandstone bluffs that overhung the valley
opposite Cape Cleveland, could not have
been an architectural wonder. judging
by the photographs, but it was the most
comfortable shelter ever made for
Arctic explorers. The views showed
boxes and bales of the supplies piled
about the uncompleted frame, to protect
the inmates from the summer rains and
furious windstorms. Here Mrs. Peary
kept house, for the party, wearing the
native dress of bearskin with it's peaked
hood. jlWhen her picture, taken in this
caro-, was thrown upon the screen, there
was a loud and continued burst of ap-
plause, a tribute of admiration for con-
duct seldom eQualled In courage and de-
J yotioD. Another view showed ner teach
ing the big Newfoundland to laugh, and
another, botanlzing along the rocky
beach, while the most interesting OF all
showed the visit of four little Esquimaux
danes, eager to see their first white
woman.
PERMANENT FASHIONS.
4 Although The Danes have remained in
Greenland for a buudred and fifty years,
the dress of the natives remains prac-
tically the same as that of their ancestors
two hundred years ago. 1t is q paradise
OF dress reformers, for the women glory
III fur trousers and aimed sealskin
moccasins reaching above the knee. while
the hair-seal SHIRT is bordsred with bear.
The little women are less b a five feet
TAIL, with the high cheekbones and coarse
hair OF the aboriginal type. and their oily
babies swing In d sort OF hood attached
TO their backs. One little mother,
I~tushakshfn, and her married daughter,
Tongwingwa, made with their numerous
relatives. i delightful group. AS the