The Portland daily press., 1894-10-27
PEARY'S PLANS.
Shelter will be Prepared Next Winter
for the Dogs.
TIE Sledge Journey on the Inland Ice Not
to be Undertaken Except Under Fav-
orable Weather Conditions-The Elk
plorer's Companions.


orable Weather Conditions-The ,Ex-
p1orer's Companions.
Mr.. Peary had outlined all his plans for
his sledging campail next spring before
the steamer Falcon lett him and his two
companions to resume their lonely life in
ih' IL little cabin at Bowdoin Bay. says the
New York Sun. The nature Of these plans
has not yet been published, but the follow
ing brief statement of them is authorized.
The explorer would have been glad if two
more members of his party had chosen to
remain with him, but the fact that only two
of his comrades are to share the remainder
OF his work did not shake his confidence
mat If the conditions are in any way favor
Die he will be able next spring to achieve
1. ialge bart of the results which were the
object of his second expedition. in the first
place, he expects to live in a most comfort
allie manner atsBowdoin Bay this wiLter.
He has an abundance of good food and in
god variety. He has an ample supply OF
fuel. The house in which the three men will
spend the winteris much more commodious
than that which comfortably sheltered the
seven members of his first expedition in
Mccormick Bay. All the natives know him
now as good friend, and he can secure
more and better service from them than
ever before. Through his assistance some
of them have become proficient in the use
of firearms and he expects to make them
very useful as hunters, securing fresh meat
and skins for his party and food for his
dogs
Next spring he will start north on the in
Land ice just as early as he can get away
but he will not leave his camp until he has
reason to believe that the violence of the
greatest storm of the spri1g. still known to
some people as the eqrinoctial, has been
spent. Last spring the storm was of excep-
tional severity, and it was his misfortune
to have his men and dogs exposed to all its
fury while above the sea on the inland ice.
In 1892 the seyerest storm occurred late in
February, and this year during the third
week in March. 1t is not likely that Peary
will see such exceptionally severe weather
not spring, but in any event he will renal n
at Bowdoin Bay until there is a reasonable
probability that the weather conditions will
not be serious impediment to ice-cap sledg-
ing. He believes that the chances are that
he will be fairly started by March Is.
As in 1892, he expects to make the COM
plete journey with only one companion, but
he is counting upon circumstances that
sill give him a great advantage over the
onditions he had to meet at that time. His
journey to Independence Bay, on tie north
east coast of Greenland, will be about $50
miles. about the same distance he had to
travel on his first expedition. But in 1892 he
did not get fairly started until May Is. while
next spring he expects to be fairly on his
way proba bly, eight weeks and certainly six
weeks earlier. In other words, he believes
he will reach Independence Bay by May
Is. even if he travels no more rapidly than
he did on his first journey; but he has sew
eral reasons for thinking that he may be
able to considerably shorten his marching
time
In 1892 lie had no food depots established
n the way. Now more pemmican than he
u use. and the sledges to haul it are
.ached l25 miles from his winter quarters
on the direct route to Independence Bay.
He will therefore be able to travel in light
marching order for nearly one fourth of
the way to the northeast coast of Green
land. He expects that the hauling will be
easier than on his first journey, because he
will start about two months earlier, and
his experience thus far has shown that the
snow surface of the early spring affords
better sledging than at any .ht-4 period of
the year. He also intends entirely to avoid
the glacial basins near the west coast in
which he and AstrIp, in 1892. met numerous
crew asses on their way north. They were
compelled to make long detours in order
to circumvent these yawning chasms in the
ice. not few of which were too wide to be
crossed. This involved considerable delay,
which will now be avoided by laying a
course east of the glacial basins, where no
creyasses are to be found. Instead OF the
tortuous course of 1892, an almost straight
path will be followed to the northern Arc
tic sea.
MI Peary will avoid one source of danger
next spring by providing shelter for his dogs
In stormy weather on the ice cap. Previous
to his attempt on the inland ice, last
spring, he had thought the dogs of North
Greenland were capable of enduring the
severest weather that ever visited that re-
gion. He found that this was mistake,
for his animals not only froze during the
terrible storms but their sufferings I'M
doubleday contributed to a violent out
break of the Greenland dog disease. The
explorer is convinced that he has now
learned the limits of endurance of the Es-
kimo dog. The toughest among them needs
shelter on the ice cap when the weather is
in its widest moods, and, ext spring, he
expects to provide protection for the
draught animals in stormy weather, and
thus keep them in condition for good work.
MI. Peary believes he can utilize few
picked Eskimos as a supporting party per-
haps as far as his cache, l25 miles from
Bowdoin Bay. With an extra sledge or two,
extra dogs, and natives to drive them, the
camp equipment and fuel with which he
will start maybe more expeditiously moved
over the first quarter of the route, and
then the supporting party will return to
1nglefeld Gulf. 1t may be that the natives
will not be willing to venture SO far from
their igloos, but in any event it is quite GER
tain that their services will be available
for considerable distance on the Journey.
Peary's lite among these natives has been a
great blessing to them, for he has given
them many useful articles that they value
above price, and they appreciate what he
has done for them. He found them helpful.
gentle. and faithful during bis first season
among them and in the past year they
have been more useful still When his mon