The Portland daily press., 1893-07-04
Peary's Arctic Explorations.
IN. Y. Sun.

Lieut. Peary will sail today to resume
his researches IN northern Greenland.
He has already given four or five of his
best years to this undertaking, for long
before he went north in 1891 every dol
lar he could save went toward the ex-
penses of his first expedition. His equip
ment and transportation charges for the
present enterprise represent cash out
lay of 1924, 900, and he has asked no man
nor society for dollar. His entire in
vestmenti is the outcome of aseason's
hard work on the lecture platform from
Maine to Colorado, and of his writings.
This achievement has filled the nine
months since he came home with labor
as arduous as that of his three months
on the ice-cap; and it is worth mention
ing, for it is something new for an Arc
tic explorer to supply, not only pre-emi-
nent fitness, but also the wherewithal to
place him advantageously in the field.
The detailed report of Lieut.. Peary's
first expedition has not yet been pub
lished. and until it appears most stu
dents of Polar exploration will not fully
understand how conspicuous that year
of Arctic research really was; for in
some respects the first Peary expedition
stands alone. Those who have had the
opportunity to study Peary's note books
| from beginning to end, have seen there
pictures of Arctic labor and life to be
| found in no other history of Polar en-
deavor. They reveal the man and his
methods. They show most interesting
phases of his doings, to which he has
| already referred in his lectures and writ
ings; and then we may briefly refer to
| one or two of them here, because they
| indicate how he will go about his COM
ing researches.
| Nearly every waking hour of the win
4 ter darkness of 1922 was devoted to
| incessant experimentation in every
| phase of equipment and preparation for
the spring campaign on the inland ice.
For instance, the question of the cloth
ing best adapted for comfort at differ
emit temperatures WAS infinitely studied
and decisively answered. The heat-pre-
serving qualities of skins and furs pro-
cured from animals killed at different
seasons of the year were carefully inves-
tigated. The best sleeping outfit for
men camping out of doors in the bitter
est weather, was devised as the result
of numerous experiments by Peary long
before he set foot on the ice cap. He
made fifteen sledges, including seven
different types, and the three he took
north were those that best stood the
tests applied to them. When he climbed
the ice cap alone, on very cold spring
day, in q skin suit weighing less than
/ infQ oh in
ter under his clothing recorded his body
heat at various temperatures OF the air
from sea level to three-fourths of mile
above it. With Thermometers placed a
foot apart, he recorded the temperatures
in Red Cliff House from floor to roof. and
he solved the problem of cheerful and
comfortable home for living and work
ing in the depths of an Arctic winter.
No frost invaded his cabin, and only
seven pounds of coal were burned on
one OF the coolest winter days.
Numberless experiments such as these
embraced everything from the toggles OF
} his snowshoes to the most vital phases
of his labors and items of his equipment
The result of all was that his outfit and
training were perfectly adequate for the
work he had to do, that his men were
athletes when the time came for thu
] field, and that he made the creates
sledge journey ever performed by two
; men with team of dogs. travelling oil
the ice cap as far as from this CITY t.
] Omaha without single advance cache
! of supplies.
A year ago this month, Peary was
toiling eastward along the northern edge
of Greenland's ice-cap, the most stipend
Gus body of ice of which we have an,
! knowledge. Through riffs in the hills tt
the north, he caught glimpses every nov
and then of the channel tina. marks TIL
northern edge of the great island. HI
: saw this channel at its western outlet
f and he followed it until he saw it joir
the Arctic Ocean on the eastern side O
Greenland. He had proved the insalari
ty Of Greenland, and this was his great
est discovery.
3 He is going back now to take up tn
estigation where he was compelled t
leave 10. North of that channel he say
mountain masses separated by wild
= straits or fiords. Here, probably, is al
archipelago of considerable extent, AM
the explorer proposes to fathom its mys
r terry There is no telling how far this at
| tempt will take him. 1t is likely that Ii
will reach the furthest north ever at
. tanned, and IL the conditions are sayora
be he may plant his flag at shat mos